Abstract

The assertion figura probat expresses the characteristic criticism of the occidental critique of images. Given the current status of images – be it as artefacts or as visualisations of scientific knowledge – there is a growing need for a philosophical examination of the meaning-generating potential that images harbour. A comparison of Martin Heidegger’s metaphor of the Weltbild with David Allan’s painting on the origin of painting, confirms the complementarity of showing in saying and saying in showing. Such a comparison also confirms the common iconic substructures of the symbolic systems ‘image’ and ‘language’. Whether as metaphor or as painting, in these different forms of appearance the image proves its expressive potential as unmediated understanding of the world and as existential experience