Lakoff and Johnson's *Metaphors We Live By* (1980): most abstract thought is metaphorical, built on a small set of primary metaphors grounded in embodied experience.

"Argument is war" — we *attack* positions, *defend* claims, *shoot down* ideas. "Time is money" — we *spend*, *waste*, *invest* it.

These are not decorative — they shape which inferences are available. If argument is war, then there must be winners and losers. If argument is instead *collaborative construction*, different inferences follow.

Related: [[@alice/writing-is-thinking]], [[meaning-through-reference]]