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@article{209671,
        author = {Ravindra Singh and Anjali Ramaria},
        title = {Between Fact and Feeling: The Role of Metaphor in Scientific Understanding},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {5},
        pages = {2937-2946},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=209671},
        abstract = {This paper begins the interrogation of the epistemic role of metaphor in scientific thought by arguing against the prevailing assumption that metaphor is merely illustrative or acts as a cognitive tool. In its place, it posits metaphor as foundational to the scientific understanding, mediating between abstraction and embodiment, cognition and affect. Through interdisciplinary analysis based in the philosophy of science, cognitive theory, and textual interpretation, the paper explores how metaphor operates not only in communication but also in the very constitution of scientific knowledge. Drawing on case studies from physics, life sciences, and neuroscience, it demonstrates that metaphor is central to theory formation, discovery, and affective resonance. The paper also critically examines the risks of metaphor, including distortion, reification, and ideological inscription, particularly when metaphors migrate unexamined into public discourse and policy. In response, it proposes a “poetics of scientific knowledge” that foregrounds metaphor as a site of imaginative reasoning, ethical reflection, and epistemic humility. Rather than treating metaphor as a deviation from scientific rationality, the paper attempts to reclaim it as a condition of intelligibility, inviting a more reflexive, plural, and affectively attuned approach to knowledge production.},
        keywords = {Affect Theory, Critical Science Studies, Cognitive Theory Epistemology, Metaphor, Scientific Knowledge, And Poetics Of Science},
        month = {October},
        }