Plato's Allegory of the cave

Allegory of the cave

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The allegory is presented in Plato’s Republic.

In the allegory “The Cave”, Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners’ reality, but are not accurate representations of the real world.

The shadows represent the fragment of reality that we can normally perceive through our senses, while the objects under the sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason. Three higher levels exist: the natural sciences; mathematics, geometry, and deductive logic; and the theory of forms.

Socrates explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are actually not the direct source of the images seen. A philosopher aims to understand and perceive the higher levels of reality. However, the other inmates of the cave do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life.

The journey out of the cave

The prisoners of the cave are chained so that they cannot move their legs and necks. They can only sit and watch the wall in front of them, but cannot look around, cannot see each other or the wall they’re chained to. Behind the prisoners burns a fire. There are people in between the fire and the prisoners. These people hold sticks with several forms (birds, horses, dogs) that project onto the wall. So, all the prisoners have ever seen are mere projections of objects that appear in the real world: a world that’s alien to them.

Then, one of the prisoners is freed. He leaves the cave and gets to experience the real world outside. When this prisoner is freed and ascends from the cave into the real world, he experiences sunlight for the first time in his life. He is confused and needs time to adapt, as he’s never seen the daylight before. But when his eyes have adjusted, he encounters all the forms he recognizes from his life in the cave. But they’re different this time. Instead of mere silhouettes, he sees the actual entities: full of color and with profound detail. He then realizes what he thought was real, was in fact, an illusion.

The liberated man ascends from darkness into the light, from the lower level within the cave to a higher level outside. This ascension serves as a metaphor for gaining knowledge and becoming a philosopher and, thus, obtaining a clear world vision. Plato’s reality presents itself as generally more beautiful in comparison with the cave. Also, the freedom of movement in the outside world is a vast improvement. Overall, the real world seems way more pleasurable, and it would be pretty absurd to exchange it for a life in the cave.

Blindness to truth

When the liberated man returns to the cave to enlighten the other prisoners with the truth, he faces resistance.

They show a typical reaction of someone confronted with the harsh reality. “denial is the most predictable of all human responses.” In some scenarios, the truth carries such a magnitude that accepting it shakes one’s identity to its very foundations. Such a massive shift in perception generally terrifies people.

Flat-out disregard for the truth is common. Many people prefer living in a safe bubble of lies to looking outside for the truth. Living in a cozy, false reality can be pretty convenient and comfortable; you just have to remain ignorant of everything that could burst your bubble. So instead, you go along with the deceptive narrative of the herd, often amplified by mass media and entertainment. But we also see the opposite happening, like people opposing common knowledge, and adopting a false truth like the idea that Earth is flat. So truth, by and large, can be easily fabricated. Merriam Webster provides a definition of truth that goes as follows: “a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true.”

When Plato’s enlightened man tries to persuade the people in the cave to go outside, he meets resistance and ridicule. Plato described such an endeavor as “inserting vision into blind eyes.” It’s a waste of time trying to convince someone of the truth if they aren’t receptive to it. Socrates asks if these people wouldn’t kill the person offering them the truth about their existence. Nevertheless, Plato points to the philosopher’s responsibility to act in the interest of the unenlightened ones, even if they’re hostile.

What is it?

The “Allegory of the Cave” is a famous philosophical allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic. It is a thought experiment used to explain his theory of Forms and the process of enlightenment.

The Setup

Imagine a cave where a group of people have been chained since birth. They are positioned so that they can only see the wall in front of them. Behind them is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway. People carrying various objects—statues, puppets, etc.—pass along this walkway, and the fire casts shadows of these objects onto the wall the prisoners are facing.

The Allegory

1. The Prisoners’ Reality: The prisoners, having never seen anything else, believe the shadows on the wall are the true reality. They name the shadows and discuss them as if they were real objects. Their entire lives are a projection of these shadows, and they have no concept of the objects that are casting them. This represents the human condition of being trapped in a world of illusion, where we mistake sensory experiences and appearances for the ultimate truth.

2. The Escape: One of the prisoners is freed. This represents the philosopher who embarks on a journey of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment.

3. The Ascent: The freed prisoner is forced to turn around and see the fire and the objects. This is a painful and disorienting process. The light of the fire is initially blinding, and the true objects are confusing. The prisoner would likely want to return to the comfortable world of shadows, which is all he has ever known. This represents the difficulty of breaking free from established beliefs and confronting a new, more profound reality.

4. Leaving the Cave: The prisoner is then dragged out of the cave into the sunlight. This is an even more difficult and painful transition. The light of the sun is initially too bright to bear, and the prisoner must gradually adjust. First, he sees only shadows and reflections on the water, then the objects themselves, and finally, the sun itself.

5. The Return: After his enlightenment, the philosopher-prisoner feels a sense of duty to return to the cave and share his knowledge with the others. However, he is now “blinded” by the darkness of the cave. The other prisoners mock and ridicule him, unable to understand his new reality. They believe the journey has made him worse off, and if he were to try and free them, they might even try to kill him.

The Symbolism

1. The Cave: The material world of sensory experience and appearances.
2. The Prisoners: Humanity, trapped by ignorance and false beliefs.
3. The Chains: The limitations of our senses, prejudices, and societal norms that bind us to illusion.
4. The Shadows: The illusions, false appearances, and incomplete realities that we mistake for truth.
5. The Objects and Fire: The real-world objects and their source of light within the cave, a step closer to reality but still not the ultimate truth.
6. The Ascent: The process of philosophical and intellectual enlightenment.
7. The Sun: The Form of the Good, the ultimate source of truth, knowledge, and reality.
8. The Freed Prisoner: The philosopher who has attained enlightenment and understands the true nature of reality.
9. The Return to the Cave: The philosopher’s duty to educate others, a mission often met with resistance and hostility.

Plato’s Message

Through this allegory, Plato argues that:

1. The reality we perceive with our senses is merely a flawed imitation of a higher, perfect reality (the world of Forms).
2. True knowledge is not gained through sensory experience but through philosophical reason and intellectual contemplation.
3. The journey to enlightenment is difficult and painful.
4. Those who have achieved true knowledge have a moral obligation to guide others, even if they are met with resistance.
5. Plato also uses the allegory to explain the role of the philosopher-king in his ideal state, who, having seen the “sun” (the Form of the Good), is best suited to rule justly.