30 Philosophers, Chapter 12, Philo of Alexandria, Touchstone 32: Allegorical Interpretation.
In this chapter, it is defined as follows:
“Allegorical interpretation is the process of understanding the symbolic meaning behind a text or story.”
It is a literary technique in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities.
From a philosophical view, allegorical interpretation reminds us that words are not the things they describe. A word points; it does not become the object. A story carries meaning; it is not the whole reality behind the meaning. The word “river” is not wet. The story of a river crossing might describe a physical journey, but it can also point toward fear, transformation, exile, liberation, or rebirth. Language reaches toward reality through symbols, images, categories, and metaphors, but it never fully captures the thing itself.
That is why stories can hold layers of meaning. A literal reading asks what happens in the story. An allegorical reading asks what the story means. A moral reading asks what it teaches. A spiritual or philosophical reading asks what deeper pattern of life it reveals. These interpretations do not always cancel each other out. A good story can be historical, symbolic, ethical, and existential at the same time. Allegorical interpretation is the art of noticing those layers without forgetting that every interpretation is still an idea about the story, not the story itself.
