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IN 1930, SIGMUND FREUD RECEIVED THE GOETHE PRIZE FOR literature. No doubt, his masterful use of metaphor was a consideration in the awarding of this prize. Though Freud was a superb writer, as a scientist he was writing not merely to entertain but to inform. Metaphor in Freud's work is not a mere decorative flourish. Metaphor is a necessary part of Freud's formulation and exposition of his scientific theories. Therefore, much can be learned about Freud's work by studying the diverse roles metaphors play in his writings.
First, the metaphors orient Freud's readers to his place in intellectual history. They place him at a point of convergence of various intellectual currents.
Second, in part, Freud established himself at this nexus by using metaphors subtly to gain and hold his readers' attention. Metaphors helped ease the way to acceptance of Freud's work.
More important than their rhetorical value, however, metaphors were cognitively essential in Freud's introduction of a new scientific theory. Most scientific theories cannot even be formulated let alone comprehended without the use of metaphor. Freud's theories are no exception. Freud (1900) found metaphors particularly useful in formulating and explicating his theory of dreams. Probably the unique relationship obtaining between dreams and metaphors had something to do with