Allegory of the Cave

Plato was a Greek philosopher who was a devoted follower of Socrates and a mentor to Aristotle. Together they are credited to be the founders of the Western Philosophy.

Although the modern academia and scholarship doubts the authenticity of few of the dialogues and letters written by him, yet, at least 35 dialogues and 13 letters have been known to be ascribed to this guy. However, with a few exceptions (for E.g. Apology), Plato never presents himself as a participant in most of his dialogues. Some of his dialogues are seen as a pure dramatic form (Hindi Movie types), with little or no narration (for E.g. Meno, Creto, Gorgias, Euthyphro, Phaedrus) while most of his works are presented as dialogues narrated by Socrates (for E.g. Republic, Lysis, Charmides). Then there are others where he uses a combination of both and still others where the narrators happen to be Socratic disciples like Apollodorus (for E.g Theaetetus).

Plato was an ardent follower of Socrates and his (Socrates’) trial is a central unifying event in most of the Platonic dialogues – primarily in the Apology. I feel that reading the Apology is quite important as only after this one understands Plato’s obsession for Socratic Ideas.

The speech that Socrates gave was actually quite moving! I liked this one punch line –

“My trial will be like a doctor prosecuted by a cook who asks a jury of children to choose between the doctor's bitter medicine and the cook's tasty treats”

Woah!! Bloody smart. It is as if he knew that those guys have rigged his case already. But what was his crime? First, that he was a busybody, and a curious person who made inquiries into the earth and sky (in plain words, he was called a bigmouth who tried to act too smart for his face and who had a habit of snooping around and putting his nose where it did not belong!) Second, that he was guilty of corrupting the young and of worshipping supernatural things of his own invention instead of the gods recognized by the State. Now that is very naïve and stupid, hey not that he was screwing around and teaching them how to roll-up hash joints, do coke and adopt a frivolous lifestyle!! Damn it! He was only trying to teach all the good stuff that included enlightenment by acceptance of unconscious in-competiveness and unconscious ignorance!! His idea was to argue the meaning of justice, love, etc. His emphasis was on how to lead a good life and how morality is determined. According to him “The unexamined life is not worth living”. He believed that only by questioning can one come to know about something. Ignorance should be the motto of questioning. According to him we come to know that we don’t know in moments of curiosity and perplexity. He argued that knowledge is not empirical, and it comes from divine insight. He even compares seeking knowledge as being erotic. He also investigated the nature of Virtue and maintained that knowledge and virtue are so closely related that no human ever knowingly chooses evil: improper conduct is a product of ignorance rather than weakness of the will.

Another one of his punch lines - “I know that I DON’T know and I accept it guys, seriously!” (Nice!)

Okay enough of Socrates, coming back to Plato.

Now Plato was not much different. He was also kinda snoopy but he was neat in not getting killed by execution. He kinda played it safe and put everything starting with “Socrates said…” This was a smart move. Now nobody could blame him, the “wasn’t me” attitude! Kidding! Nah… he respected Socrates so much that he wanted to keep him alive through his dialogues.

He conceptualizes the activity of philosophizing through his amazing works and dialogues. In his very famous Allegory of the Cave, he tries to explain how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.

The Allegory of the Cave

Okay now, imagine there is a dark cave. In this cave there are prisoners who are tied whilst facing one of the blank walls of the cave, and, they have been like this all their lives. Chained and held immobile since childhood: not only are their arms and legs held in place, but their heads are also fixed, compelled to gaze at a wall in front of them. Behind them is an enormous fire (like the one we make during the evenings when we go on overnight camping expeditions and drink and dance around it!).

Here’s the thing, in between the fire and these guys is a raised walkway, along which people walk carrying things on their heads "including figures of men and animals made of wood, stone and other materials". The prisoners can only watch the shadows cast by the men, not knowing they are shadows. There are also echoes off the wall from the noise produced from the walkway. People use this trail on an everyday basis to mind their daily chores. No, they don’t really care much about those prisoner guys, they just use this common conduit to pass through the cave and carry on with their daily dogmatic schedules minding their cattle and business. In short they play ignorant to those prisoners.

It would be quite understandable if the captives take the shadows to be real things and the echoes to be real sounds, and not just reflections of the actual people and reality. Since these shadows are all they have ever seen or heard or even, grown up with, wouldn't they praise as clever whoever could best guess which shadow would come next, as someone who understood the nature of the world? And wouldn't the whole of their society depend on the shadows on the wall?

After all the wall is all they have for a TV!!

A Twist!

Now imagine if one of the inmates is deemed to have been released. Moreover, what if after his release, someone was to show him the actual truth. The reality of the fact that his life is not merely constricted to that of the cave’s, and that it is actually the fire that is playing tricks, casting shadows, which incidentally constituted the “world” and “life” for him and his fellow inmates.

The released prisoner might not believe all that and may even want to run back to his guys. He may not even recognize any real thing for what it is and would not be able to name it. He might still be happy living in the world of those shadows calling for E.g the shadow of a man more real than the actual man himself! He might also be blinded by the fire and may even wish to go back to the world of shdows!

Second Twist!!

Suppose this guy was forcibly dragged OUT of the cave by someone. Wouldn’t he be upset and angry on the one doing this to him? And if dragged all the way out of the cave, wouldn’t he be confused and distressed to learn that all he had learned and lived through his life so far is nothing but just a “shadow”, an “illusion”? Once out of the cave, he would see the Sun – the giver of life itself, the source of seasons, years, everything! He would see the cave itself, where he spent his entire life and considering THAT to be his universe! However, following an initial discomfort, he would get used to all the euphoria. And after becoming acclimatized to the new environment and the sun, would he not feel privileged for him self and pitiful for his fellow inmates who are still imprisoned? After all, now he knows the real “reality” that is not limited to shadows and is much beyond that! Would he not be condescending to all the praises and recognitions given to the “one who guessed which shadow came next?”

Third Twist!!!

What if he was supposed to go back to his guys? Would his guys understand his stories from “outside” of the cave? Moreover, now not being adept at the “guess-which-shadow-next-game” would he be able to play that game at all??? Would the inmates even UNDERSTAND him?? Probably, they would just disregard his stories to be phony and his claims of a NEW and OUTSIDE world to be ridiculous!

Thats the Video of the above Story

Critique

Our life as we see it is nothing but a correlation to Plato’s Theory of Forms. He asserts that non-material abstracts but substantial forms or ideas and not the material world of change known to us through our senses possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality. Plato says that these Forms are the only true objects of study that can provide us with genuine knowledge. The enlightened one is someone who has deciphered the ultimate reality. Such a person, when goes back to his people is often the object of ridicule and scorn.

The enlightened one is someone who has attained the clarification of the TRUE form and does not consider the reflections and shadows as REALITY. To be able to philosophise is to be able to able to recognise the forms. A philosopher is someone who has been freed of the cave and has left the realm of the shadow world and entered into the really REAL world. In The Metaphor of the Sun Plato uses the sun as a symbol for the source of "enlightenment", arguably intellectual enlightenment. The metaphor is about the nature of ultimate reality and how we come to know of it beyond our senses.

Just because something is not “graspable” or cannot be experienced with our senses, deos not make it any less real than what it already is. On the contrary, it is those “so called real” objects that we suppose to be “real” are actually mere shadows and illusions.

His idea of reality being unavailable to those who use their senses to look for it, is something that differentiates him from the common man, rather – the common sense. In his Theory of the Divided Line, he attempts to clarify this. This followed by The Metaphor of the Sun which in turn is succeeded by the Allegory of the Cave form the clarity surrounding Plato’s idea of Knowledge of the Forms.

The stuff above is not my own, although it might have my words, but essentially the info is from a variety of sources all over the world wide web. (for E.g. Wikipedia)