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Platos Allegory Of The Cave

Platos Allegory Of The Cave This paper discussed The Allegory of The Cave in Plato's Republic, and tries to unfold the messages Plato wishes to convey with regard to his conception of reality, knowledge and education. Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" is a story that conveys his theory of how we come to know, or how we attain true knowledge. It is also an introduction into his metaphysical and ethical system. In short, it is a symbolic explanation of his "Theory of the Forms" (or eidos). In a cavern some people experience a strange confinement, for they are chained so they can look forward only at the wall of the cave. At their backs, a fire burns which they never are able to see. Between their bodies and the fire runs a path with a low wall, along which people carry pictures, puppets, and statues. All the prisoners can see are the shadows on the wall, all they can hear is the echo of the people walking and talking behind them. (1) The prisoners cannot see the exit out of the cave, the fire burning behind them, or the people carrying objects in front of the fire. They do not know the real objects in the cave, they only see and hear the shadows that those objects cast as they pass before the fire, and the echoes of the workers voices as they carry the objects across the parapet in front of the fire. Plato is making an appearance/Reality distinction. The prisoners are only familiar with the appearances of shadows and thus they mistake appearance for Reality. They think the shadows are Reality. They do not know what causes the shadows. For instance, if an object (a pen, let us say) is carried past behind them, and it casts a shadow on the wall, and a prisoner says, "I see a pen," he thinks he is talking about a pen, but he is really talking about a shadow. He uses the word "pen" and he is mistaken. For they would be taking the terms in their language to refer to the shadows that pass before their eyes, rather than to the real things that cast the shadows. A summary interpretation of the allegory's meaning cannot be better or more concisely stated than in Socrates' addition: "the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upward to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual worlds" So, to be very clear on one point of possible confusion, the blinding sun of the allegory is not the real sun, but a symbol for the good. The cave allegory also proves that the role of education is not to teach in the sense of feeding people information they do not have, but rather to shed light on things they already know. Education "isn't the craft of putting sight into the soul. Education takes for granted that sight is there but that it isn't turned the right way or looking where it ought to look, and it tries to redirect it properly." (2) The concept of duty and service are addressed in response to the objection raised by Glaucon. While contemporary philosophers are, for the most part, self-taught, they have no obligation to serve their state; however, the guardians are nurtured and educated, that is, liberated, by the State, they are unshackled. Therefore, and if their probity is not enough to dictate for them, compulsory service to that which has made them what they are is just. Selection of the guardians from the best quality men, then an outline of their education and training follows. Guardians are introduced to the sciences arithmetic, geometry, and solids in motion, and dialectic, the preeminent, last, and most rigorous science. At twenty, the candidates begin comprehensive study of the subjects; at thirty, the most accomplished of those remaining are instructed in the dialectic for five years before taking an office, or descending into the cave, in order to gain experience. After fifteen years of this type of service, at the age of fifty, and if the candidate has proven himself worthy in all respects, he becomes a ruler of State, a true guardian. The guardians must master dialectic and be able to employ it to grasp the good. The long and arduous road to becoming a ruler of the State begins with informal intellectual stimulation. Plato advances the position of early learning as amusement, so as not to discourage children from it. Gradually, the most promising children are tested; those who succeed move on. The education and training of a guardian is a combination of the different types of knowledge and experience available to human beings, from the purely speculative and academic to the experiential. In this way, the guardian emerges, after fifty fully realized years, the only person capable and worthy of ruling the ideal State. He is, in Plato's terms, the perfect, or at least the complete and just, ruler, the philosopher-king, just as the State can be the only truly just state. The Allegory of the Cave is one of the clearest explanations in all of his work of Plato's view of how human beings learn. This view is linked to his idea of the immortality of the soul (discussed in book X), and works like this. Since the soul is immortal, we are born "knowing" everything we will ever know. All we have to do is remember it, or be guided into remembering it. In the dialogue Meno, Socrates proves this by leading a slave boy into "remembering" a geometric proof, rather than teaching it to him. This is the way Plato feels all learning works--a teacher's job is to guide students into remembrance of things known, rather than filling them with new things. The Allegory of the Cave displays this very clearly, and integrates itself into the analogy of the Sun and the Line. The light of the Sun, or the Good, shines down upon things and helps the student to a remembrance of them--he does not have to be told what they are once the light is on them, he recognizes what they are now that he can see them. The four stages of the cave man's journey are equivalent to the four segments of the line. Imagination is when the cave man is still in the cave, watching only the shadows of things against the wall. Belief is when the cave man has left the cave and is starting to look around, although his eyes are not yet accustomed to the Sun. Thought is when the cave man is able to look at things in the light of the sun, and try to come to an understanding of their true nature. It is the understanding of the cave man when, finally, he is able to look up at the Sun itself and see the light it shines. Once one is ready to look up at the Sun, and bask in the splendorous light of the Good, one understands the unity that brings the Forms of all things together. In short, Plato's cave allegory unveils the heart of his philosophy. The Good--as symbolized by the sun--is not only the source of all other essence and existence, but is the foundation of all knowledge. Because it grounds my knowledge of the world it also, if truly grasped, is the necessary and sufficient cause of my becoming virtuous and happy. To leave the cave and come to know the Good is then the goal of the philosopher's life. If it is accomplished, the philosopher not only knows the Good, but he becomes Good. By becoming virtuous, he becomes happy. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1294