Chapter I: Introduction: Of the Symbol Generally

[1. Symbol as a sign simply in language, colours, etc. 8

2. Not a mere sign to represent something else, but a significant fact which presents the idea or quality it symbolizes 9

3. Thing symbolized must have other qualities than that accepted as symbol. Term symbol necessarily open to ambiguity 10

(_a_) Ambiguity in particular case whether the concrete fact _is_ set before us as a symbol. Difference between a symbol and a simile. Illustrations 10

(_b_) Ambiguity extends to-entire worlds of Art, _e.g_, Oriental art. Two theories with regard to mythos discussed and contrasted 14

(_c_) The problems of mythology in the present treatise limited to the question, "How far symbolism is entitled to rank as a form of Art?" Will only consider symbol in so far as it belongs to Art in its own right and itself proceeds from the notion of the Ideal, the unfolding of which it commences] 19

DIVISION OF SUBJECT

[1. The artistic consciousness originates in wonder. The effects that result from such a state. Art the first interpreter of the religious consciousness. Conceptions envisaged in plastic forms of natural objects 23

2. The final aim of symbolic art is classical art. Here it is dissolved. The Sublime lies between the two extremes 26

3. The stages of symbolical art classified according to their subdivisions in the chapters of this. Second Part of the entire treatise] 29