A Comparative Study of the Frequency of Using the Conceptual Metaphor of "Science" in the Speeches of Khatami, Ahmadinejad and Rouhani

The higher education system of any country is one of the most important institutions because it trains the forces that take charge of the administration of the country, so wrong policies in this institution can cause serious damage to the country. One of these wrong approaches to science that has entered Iran's higher education in recent decades is the quantitative and economic view of science and the commercialization of knowledge. This research aims to show how the economic and commercial view of science is reflected in their speeches by examining the metaphor of science/knowledge in the speeches of three presidents. In terms of theoretical and methodological framework, this research is based on Lakoff and Johnson (1998) and Chartres-Black (2004). The results of the data analysis show that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used more metaphorical discourse in his speeches compared to the other two presidents. Also, the conceptual fields of goods, place, and travel are the most frequently used conceptual fields as the origin of metaphors in the body of reference. The field of origin "goods" is the most frequently known field with 78% of the statistics extracted from conceptual metaphors. In addition, the prominence of the commercial and economic view of science in the speeches of all three presidents shows the mentality that has led to the current awkward situation in universities.