Metaphor use in Politics: the political metaphor between Philosophy and Cognitive Linguistics

In recent times the emergence of the multi-medial dimension, resulting from the technological development, deeply affected political languages underling the necessity for the analysis not to be limited to a verbal/linguistic code but to a wider concept of “sign”. Coming from the implications of this enquiry we will define the prominent role of metaphor in this picture as being part of an important “linguistic turn” in the last century. We will show through some case studies, taken from recent events in Italian and American politics, the effects of metaphor on politics, enhancing our understanding through insights from the Cognitive and Mind Sciences.