In this updated edition of his brief, engaging book, Robert J. Fogelin examines figures of speech that concern meaning-irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others-to show how they work and to explain their attraction.

• Preface to the First Edition


• Preface to the Revised Edition


• 1.: Introduction 1-7


• 2.: Figurative Predications 8-25


• 3.: Figurative Comparisons: The Traditional View 26-32


• 4.: The Standard Criticisms of Comparativism 33-70


• 5.: A Dilemma for Theories of Metaphor 71-78


• 6.: A Theory of Figurative Comparisons 79-98


• 7.: Clarifications and Elaborations 99-133


• A Concluding Note 134


• Works Cited 135-37


• Index

Robert Fogelin is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Hume's Skeptical Crisis.