August 30, 1999[Info] [Contents] [Welcome] [Syllabus] [Resources on Plato]
The "Allegory of the Cave" is a short section from the Republic, written during the middle of Plato’s career; thus when Socrates speaks, they are as much Plato’s ideas as Socrates’s, certainly more so than in the early dialogues we have been reading. There is a great difference of opinion about how much Socrates really believed in the ideas presented here.
The Republic, considered Plato’s masterpiece, attempts to define the word "justice," but in doing so presents Plato’s view of the ideal State. The only speakers in the "Allegory" are Socrates and Glaucon, the real-life brother of Plato.
As in any allegory, the story is filled with symbols which have meaning on a higher level. We do have the advantage, however, because after Socrates tells his story about the prisoner in the cave, he explains how we should interpret the story, objects, and events as symbols for a higher meaning.
This is sometimes called "The Myth of the Cave," because Plato tells us that his higher studies cannot be expressed with rational thought; thus he puts them in story form to explain, or mythos.
In the "Allegory of the Cave," Plato describes his view of the structure of reality, the relationship between the philosopher and society, the stages of enlightenment, and the main features of the philosophical temperament. Look for what Plato says about each of these.
Two realms exist in the "Allegory," inside the cave and outside the cave. These symbolize the two realms of reality for Plato: the Changing and the Unchanging. The shadows in the cave symbolize all that changes in our world. But there is a higher realm--all that doesn't change in our world--symbolized by the world outside the cave. The changing realm is easier to understand than the higher, unchanging realm. Everything you know with your senses changes, but our minds reveal a reality that doesn't change.
Say you write the number 2 on a page, and then you erase it. It has changed. But the number it was a symbol for, 2 itself, the idea of 2 in my mind, was not erased. There are two 2s. One you see with your eyes, which is part of the changing realm, and the one in your mind, which does not change, must be unchanging.
Plato believed that the 2 you see in your mind is eternal. If you and all humans died, the idea, or form, of 2, would still exist in the higher, nonphysical realm of reality.
According to Plato, there are two levels to reality: one changes and the other doesn’t. The level that changes is everything you can see, touch, taste, feel, and smell. The other level is unchanging, something like the ideas you have in your mind, like the idea of 2 that is different from the physical symbol of 2 you might draw on a page. Plato called these ideas "forms" and they exist forever, even if there is no one to think about them.
Everything you know with your senses is a copy of a form. Plato’s great symbol for this was the shadows in the cave. They are imperfect copies of the objects behind the prisoners. Mountains, clouds, humans, apples, and chairs. The form of mountain, the form of cloud, the form of human, the form of apple. All things we know with our senses are imperfect shadows of these perfect essences. To be enlightened is to escape from the lower world of the cave or, more philosophically, the world of the senses, and ascend into a higher realm, the unchanging realm of the perfect forms.
Thales believed that reality was basically one; the basic substance of reality for him was water. In the "Allegory," Plato holds that reality is basically two kinds of things. The lower level is changing, and we know it with our senses. This he symbolizes by the world of the cave. The higher level is unchanging, and we know it with out mind, even though it is independent of our mind. This he symbolizes by the world outside the cave.
Good ice cream would be in the lower realm; the Good itself would be in the higher realm. It is important that for Plato the highest form was the Form of the Good. Symbolized by the sun, the Good was the last thing seen by the prisoner, and the most difficult to see. Furthermore, as the sun was experienced as the source of warmth and light, the Good is to be seen as the the source of reality and truth. Finally, the conclusion is that, for Plato, ethics was the highest science.
August 30, 1999