Criticism of the Interactionist Theory of Metaphor

In this paper, I will criticise Elisabeth Camp's theory of metaphor. According to this theory, the metaphorical meaning arises from the interaction of the characterization of the thing which the metaphorically used term indicates with the characterization of another thing. The interaction forces out one of the most important cognitive features of metaphor, the seeing-as effect. I will argue that this theory unnecessarily complicates the linguistic phenomenon it tries to explain, and that the phenomenon in question could be explained without the need for interaction. Contrary to Camp, I will try to show that the seeing-as effect is not essential for metaphor. I will also try to demonstrate that Camp's theory of metaphor fails to explain some uses of negated metaphor