柏拉圖把可感的世界切割為：「意見」（pistis）與「猜測」（eikasia）。鑑於此，他提出圖像的兩個種類：眾相（Forms）的圖像與在水裡以及在鏡子裡的眾物體之圖像。他在《蒂邁歐》以「形似的演說」或者「形似的神話」之學說描寫相如何居住在靈魂之內以及個別事物如何分有相。此篇論文採取兩個步驟去澄清「形似的演說」之真正的概念。第一、從羅馬的哲學家西賽羅（Cicero）開始到現代的學者去分析各種的爭論。第二、澄清形容詞「形似的」（eikōs）的意義以便研究在相似性與典範之間的關係之核心的解釋。接著進一步檢驗希臘名詞「圖像」（eikōn）的概念以揭露在複本與典範之間的關係。在這些的概念被探究之後，可預期的，「相似的技藝」不同於「表象的技藝」將清晰地被展示出來。

Plato divides the sensible world into two parts: pistis (view) and eikasia (conjecture), and because of this he proposes two kinds of picture or image: that of Forms and that of bodies in water and in mirrors. His Timaeus deciphers how the Form indwells within the soul and how individual things partake of the Form with the aid of his doctrine of eikōs logos or eikōs muthos. This article adopts two procedures to clarify the true concept of “eikōs muthos” or “eikōs logos.” The first is to analyze the controversies, from the Roman philosopher Cicero to contemporary scholars, and the second is to clarify the meaning of the adjective “eikōs” (eijkwvV) so as to investigate his core explanation of the relationship between similarity and paradigm. Then the concept of the Greek noun “eikōn” (eijkwvn) is further examined to reveal the relationship between copies and paradigm. Following this, it is hoped that the separation of the technē of likeness from that of appearance will be clearly shown.