| On Plato's Cave,
by Anthony Peter Iannini, 1999 |
|
|
Essay Overview: An essay that examines Plato's Allegory of the Cave in Book VII (Seven) of the Republic. All references are to the 1968 Allan Bllom translation, The Republic, Trans. Allan Bloom, 1968. (VII.514b).
Introduction: In Book VII of the Republic, Plato creates an image of a cave in which society
lives. There are two main factions in the cave; the prisoners and the puppet-handlers. The
prisoners, chained and bound to chairs, watch shadows dance on the cavern wall in front of
them for their entire lives. These prisoners see only reflections and hear echoes.
Their
reality is what is before them, a dimly lit world of distorted objects on the unchanging
surface of the cavern wall. Behind the prisoners, on a walkway, are the puppet-handlers.
They walk in procession, holding their objects in front of a light-giving fire, presenting
the shadows to the prisoners. The prisoners, so completely bound and
chained, can not see the source of the shadows in front of them, because they can not turn
around.
Political Parallels: This situation parallels our condition as members of the political community in a
number of ways. Like the prisoners are forced to see what the puppet-handlers present to
them, we are forced to see what our government presents to us. What we are given is a
reflection of the truth, or shadows of the actual artifact being held in front of the
cavern fire. When we hear a story on the news, or listen to a Presidential address, we are
most certainly not hearing the whole story.
To see the truth, we must realize that what we
are presented with are reflections, or shadows of the truth. To assume that there is no
truth to what we are presented is to assume that the shadows on the cavern wall bear no
resemblance to the objects from which they came, which is absurd. Rather,
there are degrees of distortion, and it is up to us to judge that degree when we, like the
prisoners, begin to turn around and see the objects for what they really are.
The Prisoners: To reach an understanding of the allegory of the cave, it is important to examine each
aspect of the situation. The prisoners are most likely the general population of society;
the working class, the lower soldiers, and the government employees that have no
influence. Each of these prisoners is unable to turn around because he or she is "in
it from childhood with their legs and necks in bonds so that they are fixed, seeing only
in front of them..."
Where did these bonds come from? It seems as though these
shackles come from society’s influence, or the pressure to think and act according to
the general consensus. From the time we are born, we begin the process of being chained or
hindered by what we are taught of justice, right and wrong, the beautiful and the ugly.
These chains, though physical in the cave, are mental in reality. When we
refuse to examine the true nature of reality, in terms of institutions like politics or
religion, we are causing ourselves to see only what is before us.
The Puppet-Handlers: The puppet-handlers as Plato calls them, are those with influence in a society. They
are the politicians, military leaders, heads of network television, radio broadcasters,
and newspapers editors. Each of these influential members of society holds up an object to
the fire, and in turn, casts a shadow in front of the prisoners. Before knowing why these
people hold up the objects in front of the fire, it is important to know what these
objects actually are.
The artifacts seem to be truths behind the noble lies that Plato
presents earlier in Book V of the Republic, "It’s likely that our rulers
will have to use a throng of lies and deceptions for the benefit of the ruled." In
other words, the puppet-handlers seem to be holding up truths to the
fire, and then casting the distortion of the truth in front of the prisoners for some
reason.
The Shadows: Why present shadows or distortions of artifacts to the prisoners rather than present
the artifacts themselves? Or, in other words, why distort the truth rather than present
the clear truth? I think that the answer to this question lies in the perceptions of the
rulers, and how they think people will react to the clear truth.
For example, let’s
use our imagination and assume that our government has been working with aliens for fifty
years. If our government saw this as a truth that would disrupt the general populous in a
significant way, then the government would do its best to distort this truth in the form
of cover-up stories, false documents, and promoting ridiculous movies.
Or, in a more
tangible case, let’s assume that the CIA had a role in the assassination of President
Kennedy. If this were true, and it was presented to the people, we would lose fundamental
trust in a division of our government.
Therefore, this division of our government would be
dissolved. In this way, those "puppet-handlers" in the CIA would realize that
presenting the clear truth would be nothing less than suicide. However, if this clear
truth is distorted long enough, eventually people will have become so distanced from the
event that the clear truth will no longer be of any significance to anyone but historians.
Each society has its own noble lies, and we are no exception. "All men are created
equal" is a statement that this country is founded upon and bases its legal system
upon. But, are all men really created equal? Is it not the case that some people
are born with varying degrees of intelligence, differences in physical ability, and
inherit more or less wealth than others? If we think about this idea in terms of genetics,
we are not created equal in the strictest sense of the word.
So, then, are we created
equal in the eyes of the law? Even this assumption seems to be flawed. The Simpson case
showed that, because of the way our legal system works, wealth can be an important factor
in justice. In the same light, the ubiquitous statement, "Drugs are bad" seems
to be a distortion of the truth that is blindly instilled in our youth.
Are drugs really bad? Or, is it the case that different drugs are more or less harmful to the body, and the
really bad aspects come from human greed and want of pleasure? I assert
that there is truth in the statements, "All men are created equal" and
"Drugs are bad", but it is a distorted truth, that does not present the whole
story.
The Fire: It is also very important to examine the medium of the fire in the cave through which
the shadows are cast. We know that the objects the puppet-handlers hold are man-made.
Therefore, we know that the shadows on the wall are distortions of artificial truths. But,
it is also important to realize that the medium of the fire in which the shadows are cast
is also man-made. And, unlike natural sunlight, fire is dim, smoky, and constantly
flickering.
It would not be unreasonable to assume that even the puppet-handlers can not
clearly see what they are holding, if compared to how they would see the objects in direct
sunlight. Because the objects are both artificial in themselves, and artificial in terms
of the medium in which they are presented, the entire cave becomes a conglomeration of
man-made truths and ideals that do not really exist outside the cave.
And, even though the prisoners are being fooled, so too are the puppet-handlers, to a
lesser degree.
The Chains: Plato presents the case in which one of the prisoners is released from his chains, and
turns around to see the puppet-handlers and the fire, "Now consider what their
release and healing from bonds and folly would be like..." Because the bonds seem to
be mental rather than physical, this man (metaphorically Socrates) must have started to
question what he saw in front of him. He must have, at some point, wondered if there was
anything else beyond the surface of the cave and the shadows that dance upon it.
With this
philosophical perplexity in hand, the mental bonds would drop from the prisoner and allow
him to stand and turn around. Then, he would begin to see more of the truth of his
situation "...he is somewhat nearer to what is...", though it would at
first seem amazing and confusing, "...he’d be at a loss and believe that what
was seen before is truer than what is now shown." After some initial adjustment, this
former prisoner would be in a position to see the artifacts behind the
shadows on the wall, as well as the puppet-handlers who present these artifacts.
Outside the Cave: Plato then gives an account of what it would be like if this man were to be dragged out
of the cave. Again, the former prisoner is thrown into a world where there is more truth
than before, in terms of the sunlight that is cast down on the outside world. He would not
want to go, because the cave is the only world he has ever known. At first, the man would
be blinded by the intense light, but he eventually gets accustomed to his new
surroundings.
Knowing that he now had more truth, he would most likely pity his former
companions who are still in the cave. Plato then presents another hypothetical situation,
in which this man would return to the cave and once again sit amongst the prisoners. It
appears as though this return to the cave would not actually happen, but is used more as a
hypothetical device.
There is no reason given for why this man would return, or if it is
even possible for him to escape in the first place. In fact, there are definite reasons
given for why the man would never return, "I suppose he would prefer
to undergo everything rather than live that way."
Return to the Cave: If it had been the case that the prisoners were honored for their skills at identifying
the sequences and timing of the shadows, then this man would certainly be laughed at
because his eyesight would have not yet re-adjusted to the darkness. So, leaving the cave,
or turning around, would be viewed as a detrimental pursuit because it dulls the eyes.
The
laughter of the others turns to anger because they would not wish the same dullness of the
eyesight. Rather, they would want to kill anyone who tried to take them out of the cave.
Plato presents the murderous disposition of the prisoners rather
abruptly, but there are reasons, presented below, why the laughter would turn to extreme
anger.
Socrates and Galileo: This scenario is allegorical of the situation of Socrates, who was killed for doing
something parallel to turning the prisoners around. With a philosophical intuition,
Socrates would have been able to remove his bonds and see a greater portion of the true
nature of the situation. When he attempted to impart this discovery on others, has was to
be killed for corrupting the youth and denouncing the gods. Often, this situation is
paralleled society and in history.
Galileo was condemned for his support of the Copernican
theory of a heliocentric (sun-centered) theory of the solar system. Why was he persecuted
for his ideas? Like Socrates, Galileo thought about the shadows on the wall, in terms of
questioning the established church. No one wanted to believe that their idea of reality
was flawed, or distorted, so they forced Galileo to retract his position or face the
consequences. Charles Darwin was persecuted because he thought about the shadows on the
wall, in terms of questioning biblical creationism.
In this way, the philosopher, or one who thinks and questions, would be opposed to
holding up objects in front of a fire. Rather, the philosopher would attempt to show the
artifacts to the people for what they really are. Upon returning to the cave, the former
prisoner would try to show the others that they are, in fact, inside the cave without
knowing it.
But this is at odds with the rulers and the people. It seems as though the
laughter turns to anger in the case of the returned prisoner because people do not want
their views of reality to be upset. They do not want to think or question that which has
been presented to them from birth because it upsets the consistency of
their lives, and brings them from comfort to turbulence.
Shadows as Adoptive Parents: Plato, at the end of Book VII, realizes that the constant argumentation and questioning
of those who were brought up to do so would lead to a lawless society in which no one
honored or obeyed anything. An image is created of an adopted child who is told that the
parents he has always known are not really his biological parents. But, the person who
tells the child about his or her condition, does not know who the real parents are.
Because of this, the child begins searching for his true mother and father. This parallels
the relationship between the prisoners in the cave and those who tell them that what they
see before them are merely shadows. If the shadows are not real, then these people must
begin a quest for what is real.
This instability, this uncertainty leads Socrates to believe that many people would
throw out all of their beliefs and values that once held society together. Cohesiveness
would be replaced by inquisition, and everyone would question incessantly and try to
further there understanding of what actually is. "Don’t you notice how
great is the harm coming from the practice of dialectics these days?" asks Glaucon.
Socrates replies, "Surely its students are filled with lawlessness."
Continuing
the discussion, Socrates seems to point out the dangers of Philosophy, to the philosophers
themselves and to the societies they influence, "when he doesn’t believe, as he
did before...is it to be expected that he will go to any other sort of life than the one
that flatters him?" This is the final warning which we are given
before the discussion moves on to Book VIII, which leaves us to reflect on the purpose and
the message of the cave.
Conclusion: I believe that the central question of the cave is, "To what extent can we remove
our preconceived opinions and beliefs about the world around us?" Can we ever really
remove our chains completely, or are we, by the nature of society, always bound in some
manner? It seems as though our escape from the cave is impossible, because, as humans, we
are social beings.
And, in some way, if we are trapped in the cave, then we are bound. We
could not survive without any human interaction, and it is this interaction that corrupts
our pure intellect and instills us with values, beliefs, and concepts of good and bad.
However, it also seems as though we do have the power to turn around, the ability to see
the artifacts and those who hold them before the artificial fire of human truth. We can
see the shadows as shadows, and we can see the artifacts as noble lies, but we may be
forever blind to reality, to absolute truth.
Endnotes:
1 The Republic, Trans. Allan Bloom, 1968. (VII.514b)
2 The Republic, (V.459d)
3 The Republic, (VII.515c)
4 The Republic, (VII.515c)
5 The Republic, (VII.515d)
6 The Republic, (VII.516e)
7 The Republic, (VII.537e)
8 The Republic, (VII.538e)
