If metaphor were the primary vehicle of conceptual learning, concept acquisition would require a prior stock of source-domain concepts, generating an infinite regress of metaphorical grounding.
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metaphorical grounding(as used in cognitive science and philosophy of language)
The idea that we understand abstract concepts by connecting them to simpler, more basic ideas through metaphor—like grounding an abstract idea in something concrete we already know.
primary vehicle(as used in this argument about how learning works)
The main method or tool through which something happens or is communicated.
source-domain concepts(as used in cognitive metaphor theory)
The basic concepts we start with that we then use to understand more complicated things through comparison (like using our physical experience of going 'up' to understand the abstract idea of 'more').