This book by the outstanding Soviet philosopher and philologist A. F. Losev is devoted to analyzing the entire problem of the symbol as such—namely, the opposition between symbol and allegory, symbol and artistic image, symbol and metaphor, symbol and naturalistic copy, symbol and myth. A. F. Losev provides a theory of social-historical symbolism, illustrating it with examples taken from fiction. The book includes an extensive bibliographic apparatus. It is intended both for specialists in philosophy and literary studies and for a wide circle of readers.