Truth and Falsehood of the Mirror: Subjectivity – Reflection – Practice

The author discusses different uses of the mirror metaphor in philosophy, literature and aesthetics. On one hand, a mirror serves to talk about human empowerment and inner life, while on the other becoming one of the most important metaphors of truth, of proper representation of reality. The final part of the paper considers the practical location of mirrors – and the practice of mirroring as the basis for other philosophical and existential metaphors. The author treats the mirror not only as a metaphor but also as an artefact with its own history: the history of an object but also social and economic history. By taking into account this physical history of mirrors, we can observe the changing foundation of epistemological and aesthetic metaphors.