Using Disputants' Metaphors in Mediation

This article argues that a mediator, conscious of the metaphors disputants use, aware of their implications and skilled in their use, will hear more, be better able to reframe, disentangle and guide communications to explore meanings, enhance self-reflection, and expand possibilities. A growing body of work in cognitive science known as conceptual metaphor theory reveals the anatomy of metaphor and its inner workings. The distinctions between source and target domains, the mapping of entailments, correspondences, and inference patterns have been studied extensively and their direct application to mediation is explained and illustrated here. The paper concludes with suggestions for teaching and learning about metaphor intended for its practical use in the mediation process