Imagery and Allegory in Philosophy

Abstract

Let me begin by offering three texts for comparison. The first is Macbeth’s soliloquy: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow ...”. The second is Plato’s Myth of the Cave. And the third is a passage of straight philosophic prose (which I shall recite momentarily). The shared theme that runs through all three texts is the illusoriness of so-called “reality”, and the consequent failure in most of our efforts to lay hold of the truth. Consider Macbeth’s words, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player ...”, and let us set this notion alongside Plato’s description of the shadow-play on the far wall of the cave, and how the prisoners mistake those shadows for the truth.