Metaphors for the City

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the scope of the metaphors to reflect on the essence of the contemporary city, in light of the philosophical proposals of Hans Blumenberg, Jean-Luc Nancy and Georg Simmel. e starting point of this reflection is recognizing that the contemporary city can hardly be thought of as just one more phenomenon of the world, one object among others, as it has long since become the “world of life,” where most human beings develop virtually all of their existence. By not being available as a theoretically objectivable reality, the essence of the world of big city life can hardly be trapped in the univocal nature of the concept. However, the article defends the idea that, when concepts are not enough, metaphors help us to establish connections with what would otherwise remain obscure.