Definition:
An image, narrative, or fact that shapes an individual's perception of the world and interpretation of reality. Defined by philosopher Stephen Pepper as "an area of empirical observation which is the point of origin for a world hypothesis" (1967).
See also:
Etymology:
Concept introduced by Stephen C. Pepper in World Hypotheses (1942)Examples and Observations:
- "A man desiring to understand the world looks about for a clue to its comprehension. He pitches upon some area of common sense fact and tries to understand other areas in terms of this one. The original area becomes his basic analogy or root metaphor. . . .
"If man is to be creative in the construction of a new world theory, he must dig among the crevices of common sense. There he may find the pupa of a new moth or butterfly. This will be alive, and grow, and propagate but no synthetic combination of the legs of one specimen and the wings of another will ever move except as their fabricator pushes them about with his tweezers."
(Stephen C. Pepper, World Hypotheses: A Study in Evidence. Univ. of California Press, 1942) - "A root metaphor or myth usually takes the form of a story about the cosmos. Although the story may be amusing or enjoyable, it also has four serious functions: to order experience by explaining the beginning of time and of history; to inform people about themselves by revealing the continuity between key events in the history of the society and the life of the individual; to illustrate a saving power in human life by demonstrating how to overcome a flaw in society or personal experience; and to provide a moral pattern for individual and community action by both negative and positive example."
(Alan F. Segal, Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World. Harvard Univ. Press, 1986)
Also Known As: conceptual archetype
