Metaphorical Mirrors: Aesthetic Reflections from Plato to Nietzsche (and Beyond)

Abstract This article weaves together three main strands: first, the ambiguities of mirror metaphors in relation to concepts of artistic representation and expression; secondly, the double-sided and sometimes paradoxical influence of Plato in this area of aesthetics; thirdly, the need to interpret long-lasting metaphors in the history of ideas not as static figures of speech but as dynamic tropes which shift in sense and implications with changes of context. In constructing and exploring this thematic configuration of mirrors, metaphors, and Plato, the chief concern is to draw out—via a small selection of texts, including passages from Schopenhauer and Nietzsche—some underappreciated complexity in the various classical traditions that have contributed to aesthetics and philosophy of art.