![]() One detail which is often overlooked, but which is important to note, is the significance of those objects which the people on the road are carrying: they are, Plato tells us, human statuettes or animal models carved from wood or stone. There are several further details to note about the symbolism present in the allegory. ![]() So we can see how Plato’s Allegory of the Cave relates not only to the core ideas of The Republic, but also to Plato’s philosophy more broadly. In other words, those people who have seen the ideal world, have a responsibility to educate those in the material world rather than keep their knowledge to themselves. (It is curious how prophetic Plato was: his teacher and friend Socrates would indeed be ridiculed by Aristophanes in his play The Clouds, and later he would be put on trial, and sentenced to death, for his teachings.) People come to love their chains, and being shown that everything you’ve believed is a lie will prove too much (as Plato acknowledges) for many people, and even, initially, for the philosopher. The philosopher must return down into the cave and face ridicule or even persecution for what he has to say: he has to be prepared for the unpleasant fact that most people, contented with their mental ‘chains’ and their limited view of the world, will actively turn on anyone who challenges their beliefs, no matter how wrong those beliefs are. Plato insists, however, that the philosopher has a duty to return to the material world, to the world of the cave and its inhabitants (or prisoners), and to try to open their eyes to the truth. The symbolism of the cave being underground is significant, for the philosopher’s journey is upwards towards higher things, including the sun: a symbol for the divine, but also for truth (those two things are often conflated in religions: Jesus, for example, referred to himself as ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ in John 14:6). To get through this state, however, it is necessary to continue advancing and discovering new knowledge.The Allegory of the Cave, as Plato’s comments indicate, is about the philosopher seeing beyond the material world and into the ‘intelligible’ one. Liberation involves objectively analyzing the extent as to which one’s beliefs falter, which of course produces uncertainty and anxiety. ![]() If we have no reason to question something, we don’t, and its falsehood therefore prevails.įew manage to access the second stage, liberation, which is achieved through questioning, research, and study. One of the explanations as to how deception is so profoundly impactful on human life is that, for Plato, it is composed of what seems to be an obviously superficial point of view. If we compare this by means of the stages of Plato’s allegory, we will obtain a more detailed analysis of the relation of the story to the present.įirst of all, there is deception which posits that the reality provided by these sources of information are merely shadows or breadcrumbs of the intended message or actual truth in other words, the general population consumes information without even questioning it. Various scenarios are easily comparable to these ideas one great example is the information that is shared today across the world’s media, including social networks and the rest of the internet. The story brings together a series of very common philosophical themes, namely, the existence of a truth that exists independently of individuals’ opinions the presence of constant deceptions that keep us from truth and the qualitative change needed in accessing truth. This entire story is an allusion to Socrates‘ effort to help men to reach the truth and their failure in doing so only to be condemned to death himself. ![]() When this prisoner tries to untie and raise his former companions towards the light, Plato believes them to be capable of killing him he is sure they would indeed take his life if given the opportunity. The joke would be that this would prove his eyesight to have been impaired by his passage from sunlight to the darkness of the cave. The allegory ends, however, with the prisoner entering the cave once again to “free” his former companions in chains, thereby provoking laughter. ![]()
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