METAPHORS IN CREATIVE SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT

This article explores the role played by metaphors in creative scienti fic thought. The research necessarily touches on scientific realism, a nd so causal theory of reference plays an essential role. Actual cases from scientific research are considered. There emerges a view of scie ntific creativity in which science advances through an assimilation/ac commodation process in which metaphors and correspondence principles a re essential. Natural inclusion of causal theory of reference with met aphors means continuous theory change while ontology remains fixed.