ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the use of figural language in philosophical texts. Philosophy is tied to poetry much in the way it is tied to rhetoric. Poetry has effects upon its audience which surpass any interpretation which can be affixed to particular poems. One problem with writing philosophy in a climate of contention is that it is necessary to create one's audience at the same time as one states the argument of the case. The philosopher who would be heard must somehow capture the attention of the audience. The resources of poetry and rhetoric aid in the task of securing an audience. Whether used sparingly or copiously, metaphors are crucial to the mix of indirect techniques which work to make an audience receptive to the philosophical message explicit in the text. They do this by opening the mind of the audience to new combinations of ideas, fields of meaning hitherto unthought or inaccessible.
