Twinning the cosmos with the universe through metaphorical ontology

Thus began the decline of meaningful cosmos, of conflation of cosmos with universe, suggested in the infamous Galileo affair. With the growth of a concept of science in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the reduction of cosmos to universe was secured. The loss of cosmos can, however, be healed by considering the importance of metaphor. Metaphor opens up, versus closing down, the meaning of reality. Russell introduces the term “metaphorical ontology” to suggest how deep meanings of things—cosmos—can be suggested in language, and claims that the proper language of religion is thus metaphor