"Metaphors are a hidden grammar of being, subtly framing what is possible and impossible, what is likely and farfetched, what is visible and invisible. Hence, metaphors have the potency that is often beneath conscious awareness. They interweave with the agency, analysis, and ethics. Without awareness of the pervasive shaping power of metaphors, we see through a glass darkly. In this dissertation, I attempt to discover this hidden grammar of being in and about international law. The dissertation offers an alternative lens of seeing international law through the framing of metaphors. By doing that, the study focuses on the different ways of thinking about metaphors and international law. I argue that international lawyers may discover and recognize the potency of the framing capacity of metaphors and use it as a methodological tool. This recognition can bring conscious awareness to the community of international lawyers. The community can see the impossible, farfetched, invisible parts of international law. I divide the dissertation into four sections, ie. the topic of investigation, research question, and methodology; the different ways of thinking about metaphor and international law; the different ways of thinking about metaphor and international law, and the conclusion. The first section is about the topic of investigation (relationship between metaphor and international law), research question, and methodology. The second section is about the different ways of thinking about metaphor. As there are different ways of thinking about law there are also diverse theories, approaches on metaphor in various disciplines (i.e. philosophy, cognitive literature, and psychology. Therefore, this section explains the reason why I choose certain metaphor theories, approaches and excluded the others. The third section, the different ways of thinking about metaphor and international law, is divided into three parts, i.e. metaphors in international law, metaphors about international law, and metaphors of international law. The first part metaphors in international law has a special focus on metaphors in international law judicial interpretation and legal reasoning. This part allows me to analyze and concretize my research questions and apply the metaphorical framework to case studies. The second part metaphors about international law investigates whether metaphor can be seen as a methodological tool for theory-making and critical analysis of international law. The third part, the metaphors of international law, makes a metaphor analysis of the international law discourse by applying (mostly pragmatic) metaphor theories into the international law discourse and illustrates. In other words, it illustrates how metaphors work in the practice of international law."