It has long been known that Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches showing a rider in combat with a dragon do not portray St. George. Viewing these sketches in connection with several of Leonardo’s writings, this essay suggests that they are allegories that should be interpreted on several levels. On the basic level, these combat scenes represent the battle of contraries, based on the symbolism common to Leonardo’s period where a combat between an equestrian and a dragon represented the clash of light versus darkness, life versus death, good versus evil, etc. However, I argue that they also comment on the scientific and philosophical issues that occupied Leonardo, including action versus reaction and the true concept of knowledge as opposed to falsehood and sophistry. This essay interprets these sketches as offering an insight into Leonardo’s analogical approach, which connects common symbolism to his personal perspective on science and philosophy, and thus points to a new way of looking at Leonardo’s drawings and paintings and decodes new aspects of Leonardo’s personal symbolism.

中文翻译：

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列奥纳多的龙——作为列奥纳多知识概念寓言的“骑手斗龙”草图

众所周知，列奥纳多·达·芬奇（Leonardo da Vinci）描绘骑手与龙战斗的草图并未描绘圣乔治。结合列奥纳多的几部作品查看这些草图，这篇文章表明它们是应该在多个层面上解释的寓言。在基本层面上，这些战斗场景代表了相反的战斗，基于莱昂纳多时期常见的象征意义，其中马术与龙之间的战斗代表了光明与黑暗，生与死，善与恶等的冲突。 然而，我认为他们还评论了占据莱昂纳多的科学和哲学问题，包括行动与反应以及与虚假和诡辩相对的真实知识概念。