Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Here is the Script for this Allegory, created by E and A Maass of Harper College:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIUNrASQfb4
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave:
An Explanation and Interpretation

We stumble into a cave. It takes a moment for our eyes to adjust to its gloomy interior. A shocking sight comes into view: prisoners. Since childhood, these shackled human beings have been sitting upright, chains wrapped around their legs. Likewise, they cannot turn their heads because of the chains wrapped around their necks.

In the back of the cave burns a fire. Raised above and behind the prisoners is a low, brick railing. Up and down the length of this parapet men, acting like puppeteers, hold up a number of objects. The prisoners cannot see any of this activity going on behind them. They can only watch this puppet show of weird, shadowy images the objects cast on the cave wall.

The prisoners talk among themselves. They name the images paraded in front of them, and reward each other for their cleverness. But they all mistake the shadows that they can see for the real objects that they can’t see. Writes Plato, “All in all, then, what people in this situation would take for truth would be nothing more than the shadows of the manufactured objects” (The Republic Book VII 515c). But if the cave dwellers turned around, would they see their category mistakes and admit that their thinking was wrong? Would they trade shadows for substance?

Now, imagine a prisoner suddenly set free. What will he do? Well, first he’ll have to decide whether or not he wants to leave the cave. Once he makes up his mind, he will need to ascend the long, curved passageway toward the light. The defused sunlight makes him squint; once outside, the glare of the sun stings his eyes.

Will he be able to see what others in the light call “real”?

No. At least not right away. He is disoriented. Maybe he is terrified by the liberty of clear, uncluttered thought. He still gravitates toward shadows, reflections, and echoes. He feels threatened, and swears that the cave is reality. He tells himself that the shadow-land is true, and he might even turn around and go back.

But then as he grows accustomed to the light, his curiosity begins to overpower his fears. He starts to understand. It’s as if he is waking up, becoming enlightened.

But by what?

According to an Indian proverb, “Nothing purifies like knowledge.” Jesus spoke of the “truth that makes you free.” The Buddha spoke of awakening. Plato points to the Forms, in particular, “the Good.” Perhaps all of these parts and more constitute true education. What does the process of true learning look like? Becoming transformed. Changing. Evolving. Grasping and internalizing knowledge. Reasoning. Apprehending reality for oneself. Taking the road less traveled. Ascending to a higher consciousness. Understanding. Turning toward the “sun” (the Good) to contemplate truth.

According to Plato’s Allegory, “this turning the eye away from the darkness and towards the light can only be accomplished by turning the whole body. The entire soul has to turn with it, toward—and until it is able to bear the sight of—the Good…This would be ‘true philosophy.’”

Now what happens if the freed prisoner decides to return to the cave? He can be thought of as a liberator championing the oppressed and setting captives free. He can be thought of as a Buddhist bodhisattva helping other sentient beings.

The freed prisoner determines to go back to the others. To do so, he must reverse the process; instead of ascending, he descends; instead of moving from darkness to light, he now moves from light to darkness. He retreats from the realm of substance and re-enters and must re-acclimate to the region of shadow.

How do you think the freed prisoner will be received by his fellow prisoners? Will they be persuaded? No. The returning prisoner is treated as a laughing stock. First the message is ridiculed, then the messenger is murdered. Not a very happy ending, is it?

What are we to make of the symbolism in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?

Some students thought the cave is shaped like the human brain. We are stuck in our minds, concocting reality from our perceptions and opinions; we are shackled with the chains of distorted thinking. We live with our vague notions in the shadow-land. Our ideas might portend to the real, and point to the greater, if not the greatest that exists somewhere.

The cave is also thought to be the physical realm. Outside of the cave and independent of us is the intelligible realm. Somewhere there exist corresponding, but perfect and complete Forms. The Forms can be thought of as unchanging absolutes in an impermanent, ever-changing world. The low fire at the back of the cave only hinted at the sun. For Plato, the sun symbolized the Form he called “the Good.”

Plato’s Republic is an argument for a political ideal or utopia. Callipolis is Plato’s ideal city, and the educated Philosopher-King is the ideal ruler. It is outside of the cave where one elevates the soul and becomes educated. It is the duty and responsibility of the freed prisoner who finds understanding in the intelligible realm to go back to rule and educate in the physical realm—provided, of course, that he doesn’t get killed!

Plato’s ideal is the educated Philosopher-King. As a leader, he is not a tyrant or despot. Like the Confucian ideal, Plato’s ideal must rule and teach with equanimity, respect, fairness, and justice. As a true sage, he enlightens and elevates his people to new understanding. He leads them to “the good.”

Plato’s cave is the physical, one-dimensional realm. It is outside Plato’s cave where one elevates the soul and becomes educated. What about you and me? To learn, to grow, to self-actualize and self-realize, must we not escape the cave of ignorance?