A Conversation

The following text is an excerpt from the book “The Discovery of the Shadow” by R. Casati.

1. Below the Acropolis, Plato is walking towards the sea. Skia, his shadow, is hardly visible in the glaring midday light. The shrill song of cicadas can be heard in the background.

SKIA:

This is exhausting! Can’t we rest for a moment?

PLATO:

What are you talking about? You want to take a rest? But it is me who is walking! Your ridiculous dance is nothing but a crude imitation of my wal-king.

SKIA:

Well, it is true that I am not walking. But you are constantly treading on me!

PLATO:

So what? You are just a shadow! You are not made of blood and bo-nes, you do not feel any pain. I am not even sure why I am talking to you. May be because of the heat that is dulling my senses.

SKIA:

But you will not disdain the coolness that my brothers can afford you. We could sit in the shadow of this cave down there for a while.

PLATO:

Never! I would rather melt in the sun. After all I’ve invested in order to wrest mankind from darkness, this is really not the right moment to be leaving the light.

SKIA:

It’s as clear as daylight that you do not like me. However, we have quite some distance before us that we have to walk together.

PLATO:

I could well go without you.

SKIA:

What is it that we shadows did to you? Why do you dislike us so much?

PLATO:

You are too obtrusive, that’s why. You distract. You are sinister. You scare the children. You are hard to comprehend. You cause all kinds of pro-blems.

SKIA:

Could you give me an example?

PLATO:

Read on, and you will see.

2. On his way to Piraeus, Plato stops at a corner and stands with his back to the sun. In front of his feet, Skia, his shadow, is standing out clearly. The leaves of the olive trees are rustling in the breeze.

SKIA (desperate):

Imprisoned in a cave! Abused as an example of poor insight! For centuries denounced as the scarecrow of philosophy! Honestly – day after day I am following you at every turn, from sunrise to sunset, and you just trample on me. You should apologize.

PLATO:

This is insolence! As you know quite well, you are not only ephemeral and sombre, but you are also full of contradictions and inconsistencies, you cause confusion and fright and you leave everybody puzzled. This is not going to improve your case.

SKIA:

But this is exactly my point! Even though I may be frightening and peo-ple may not know what to make of me, I would like to prove to you that I may be useful for everyone – even for scientists and philosopers like you.

PLATO:

Well, I really don’t know what you might be good for.

SKIA:

After all, without me there would be no alternation of night and day, you would not recognize the shape of things, everything would appear flat and un-substantial …

PLATO (indignant):

This may well be, but you are just a dummy; it is the light that does all the work.

SKIA:

Objection! The light knows nothing but to go straight ahead. Heedless it bounces around, and if it comes up against an obstacle, it recoils and turns into another direction. It is me who preserves the traces of this meeting. It is me, the shadow, who is the memory of light. What – you are not convinced? Well, I have some more arrows in my quiver. Read on, and you will see.

3. It is bright outside, yet somewhat hazy. The closeness of the sea is noticeable, the parching heat of the sun has diminished somewhat. Skia, Platos shadow, is growing constantly and almost becoming ar-rogant.

PLATO:

With time, we have come a long way, but haven’t arrived at much.

SKIA:

Aristarch and Eratosthenes showed how immense the earth and the hea-vens are. The philosophers and mathematicians used the course of the sun and converted it into a clock. And you are saying this isn’t progress? Whatever will be needed to convince you?

PLATO:

The discoveries you have enumerated seem to me mere products of chance. Nobody takes you seriously.

SKIA:

But I’ve spared the best for last. There will be a century, my very own century, in which all the astronomers will follow me around, will court me and proclaim with a lot of fuss that they have seen me here and there, and will try to track me down on the furthest planets of our solar system.

PLATO:

Our solar system? What are you talking about?

SKIA:

Times are changing, Plato. Due to me, mankind has discovered that the earth is not the centre of the universe.

PLATO:

Are you joking?

SKIA:

No way! Read on. As I said, I’ve saved the best for last.

4. In an olive grove close to Piraeus, Skia, Platos shadow, stretches and climbs up the small wall along the path. In passing, he brushes a lizard that shivers and runs away.

PLATO:

A new world. And yet …

SKIA:

You still doubt me? What Galileo and all the others did is not sufficient for you?

PLATO:

What they did is indeed remarkable. But you will surely acknowledge that dealing with you isn’t always easy. Just take the case of that poor illustra-tor who forgot the shadow of the ring of saturn.

SKIA:

You haven’t grasped my point yet. He made this mistake because he was all too capable!

PLATO:

What? Aren’t you contradicting yourself? You are strange indeed!

SKIA:

Let me explain. It is true that the illustrator did not take into account the rings – an inexcusable mistake. He directed his attention at the globe only. But what happened? In the original drawing the shadow seemed implausible to him – this could not be the shadow of a sphere. Therefore he made some correcti-ons.

PLATO:

Well, so what?

SKIA:

He considered it quite natural to correct the drawing, and this shows that at his time all artists had to understand the language of the shadows.

PLATO:

Who would have thought so! But why should all this be so important?

SKIA:

Think of Galileo’s wager. He said: give me a shadow, and I will recon-struct the form. Galileo won the wager, because the painters solved the oppo-sing problem: give us a form and we will construct the shadow.

PLATO:

How did they do this?

SKIA:

That’s what we will see shortly.

5. On the beach, Plato watches as Skia, his shadow, moves giant-sized over the houses of the city. The light is fading as the sun is slowly dipping down into the sea.

SKIA:

Let’s take leave before the night descends.

PLATO:

And what will become of you?

SKIA:

You will finally be rid of me! Soon I will merge with the shadow of the earth. Honestly, I do not really care about all this.

PLATO:

You are so impregnable that I cannot hurt you even if I touch you. Are you really this callous? I almost regret this parting.

SKIA:

Dear Plato, I do not know any sorrow because I do not have a memory. This is how I am. Although my name Skia means trace, you will find no marks on me like the scar that blemishes your arm and reminds you of the injury that you received as a child. I do not have to tell a story because the past has left no impression on me. But this is also my privilege. I am different each mo-ment, but each moment I am forced to be a true reflection of whatever I am associated with. This is why geometrists, astronomers and painters have all relied on me. Without memory I cannot deceive anyone when presenting the message entrusted to me. What I am relating is above suspicion.

PLATO:

Well, I think I have now understood the significance of shadows. You are a really extraordinary phenomenon!

SKIA:

We are an extraordinary phenomenon since we stand halfway between perception and cognition.

PLATO:

What do you mean by this?

SKIA:

Each shadow carries a message which it hides well under its dark cover. We shadows are full of thought. But these thoughts are openly visible for eve-ryone.

PLATO:

This is similar to the message of a word if you speak the language it belongs to. This is the reason why scholar always knew how to converse with the shadow.

SKIA:

I will tell you more than this. Scholars know how to converse with the shadow since each shadow is a scholar itself. We construct a two-dimensional model of a three-dimensional world. And we do this continuously and tirelessly.

PLATO:

And what should this be good for?

SKIA:

Have you forgotten about Eratosthenes? By consulting a tiny shadow on the bottom of a bowl he came to know the perimeter of the earth!

PLATO:

I have learned the lesson well. If I had to write another book on know-ledge I would treat you with more respect.

SKIA:

The sun has almost vanished. We cannot undo what we have done, but let us enjoy this wonderful sunset glow before I enter the large shadow of night.

The sun sinks down into the sea. Skia disengages from Plato’s body and flies away soundlessly, gliding above the houses and spreading out over the mountains behind Athens.