Seeing education as metaphorical relation

How do we make sense of metaphor? The author concludes that our ability to select salient features from personal experiences, logical structures of language and knowledge of the causal effectiveness of an apparently nonsensical phrase such as 'Philosophy is an orange' is similar to the practical judgment required for ethical decisions, making art and good teaching. It is a dynamic complex and situated process of autopoesis which depends on making logical, causal and interpersonal relationships which continually reconstruct self and meaning. Fresh metaphor allows a process of integration and differentiations to take place by disturbing our cognitive structures. Creativity involves seeing things other than they are, of seeing X as Y, and this requires, as does metaphor, education to make genuine engagement with children, especially those with cultural or social differences. An appropriate pedagogy of relation uses such tensions arising from differences to help children reflect and work together to resolve their cognitive, causal and interpersonal tensions.