enlightenment to the general public, try to re-enter the cave. Plato saw people such as Socrates try to bring the average person the knowledge that he gained from outside of the cave. The common people of the time acted just as Plato had described they would in The Allegory of the Cave. These people rejected the philosopher and his knew enlightenment. They called him crazy, a corrupter of the children. They rejected his idea that things were made of more than that which we can see. They still believed that the earth was filled with merely things, the shadows from the story. Socrates could not, however, believe these things because he had left the cave and saw the greater truth. He was alienated and finally put to death for his new view of the world. Plato makes reference to the death of Socrates when, in the Republic, he writes, “And, as for anyone who tried to free them and lead them upward, if they could somehow get their hands on him, wouldn’t they kill him?” 189.One might wonder why Socrates even re-entered the cave. Why didn’t Socrates stay outside in the sun? Plato tells us that exiting the cave and seeing the forms, the trees and the sky, the earth and the sun, will free us. He tells us that this exodus from the cave is truly great and the philosopher must achieve this. However, he tells us this is not the only thing a philosopher must do. Just as important as exiting the cave and seeing the light from the sun is bringing this knowledge back to those in the cave. It is important that Plato stress this because this describes why a philosopher would put themselves through the persecution they would feel from those still “in the cave.” The philosopher knows that most will not accept his new knowledge. He writes, “Wouldn’t he (the philosopher) invite ridicule? Wouldn’t it be said of him that he’d returned from his upward journey with his eyesight ruined and that it isn̵...
