Thats a very strange analogy. A microscope allows you to directly see a small object. A metaphor hints at an object for you to visualize yourself, and the refer

Thats a very strange analogy. A microscope allows you to directly see a small object. A metaphor hints at an object for you to visualize yourself, and the reference is imprecise. That’s exactly Djikstra’s point. And we can (and do) learn without metaphors. We need base knowledge for the metaphor to refer to. They are useful for learning, but not essential.