So is the issue that modern philosophy, as a trade, does not value clarity? Because I haven't managed to find an excerpt of "are shadows things" but the summmaries... ...are almost deliberately obtuse. Did philosophers stop caring whether or not they had an audience other than philosophers?An observer is viewing a double eclipse of the sun. Traveling east is the heavenly body Far. Traveling west and nearer to him is the smaller body Near. Near is close enough to exactly compensate for its smaller size with respect to shadow formation. Near and Far look the same size from his vantage point. When Near falls exactly under the shadow of Far, it is as if one of these heavenly bodies had disappeared. Does the observer see Near or Far? The chapter's thesis is that the causal theory of perception correctly favors Far.