Socrates imagines if one prisoner were set free into the real world, outside the cave. He would be suddenly blinded by the light of the sun and confronted with reality. This would be a traumatic experience, however, gradually he would be able to see things like they are . Eventually after seeing the Sun, the metaphor for universal understanding, the philosopher returns to the cave. He then tries to tell the other prisoners the truth. However, Socrates suggests that the prisoners would see how his night vision was ruined his experience, a terrible thing, in an existence that needed it. Socrates concludes that when he tried to get others to come out with him, they would kill him, because of his “wrong” view of the world .

The prisoners in the cave seem to represent the ordinary people of the world, who are looking only at a fragment of the real world, the shadows. Whilst they are doing this, there is a great deal of other, and Plato tells us, more wonderful things outside the cave. The shadows, although they are similar to the real world, are not as genuine. They are described by Socrates as “artificial”, created by another human construct, a fire. This is something very disconnected from the real world, as Plato intends it to be. The chains that imprison the people, representing the soul. Plato believes the soul to truly know that there is something else, something, for lack of a better word, better, but is constrained by the body from being aware of it.

Plato distinguishes between the “philosopher” and the “prisoners”, mere sight seers and the educated, enlightened one. Like an American watching a cricket match. The match appears to be chaos to him, without any rhyme or reason, a flurry of movement. Why is that man trying to catch a ball falling from the sky? But to those that know the rules, it is ordered. Obviously this is a limited analogy, but  for someone in the know, things appear to be more ordered, than people who are not.

Plato seems to be drawing on an ideal “utopia”, he thinks that the philosopher should be listened to, and be a philosopher king. He believes that those who have it, the knowledge, the understanding, should rule. But Plato is realistic, and tells us that it is likely that rather than allow the Philosopher King to rule them, they would kill him.

However, to a degree, I can empathise with the other unenlightened prisoners. If the shadows are the workings of the real world, being enlightened would form no real advantage over anyone else. It would be a hindrance. However, Plato believes that this one truth is so important that he would want to know it at all costs.

I also think that it is in human nature to question, and although the prisoners could not move due to the chains, they would know that they could, but were being forced not to. I also think that puppeteers would have explored, rather than sticking to their allotted task, clearly none of them had, as if they had known of the better world, they would have left. This also leaves us with the question of where they puppeteers got the artificial models, they haven’t left the cave, and yet they have representations of it. The puppeteers also represent a step closer to enlightenment. The prisoners are twice removed from reality , where as the Puppeteers are only once, perhaps associating them with the educated upper class, being closer to the ideal.

Plato believed that change is an illusion, much like his master . The forms don’t change, but the physical world does. From the cave allegory Plato is saying that true knowledge was abandoning the world of the senses and seeking to discover truths in you own mind and discovering his “forms”. Plato believed that once you had got to grips with the forms, it would lead to true knowledge, then goodness.  He believed that while mathematics could be understood, only the forms could be known and the physical world could never truly be known.

The analogy of the cave is good at summing up Plato’s view on the world, and Plato’s famous “theory of knowledge”. Believing that as senses are illusions, they are unreliable. Plato thought that because of this, we could never know the truth of the physical world, or true knowledge about the world. However, he believed that we could form opinions about it.

One of the main problems that I had with Plato’s cave on my first reading is the reaction of the “prisoners”, why do they resist being educated? They symbolise normal people, why don’t they want intellectual advancement? Why would they not value education? I realised that Plato had accounted for some of this.  The people did like to learn, and like all things, rewarded the most intelligent. The people were knowledgeable on the shadows of the cave walls, on what would come next, and what the shadow was. However, they don’t want to embark on the dangerous and painful trek to the overworld. To justify their laziness they dismiss his claims. This is perhaps where I object slightly, I would be in favour of believing that at least one member of the group would be inquisitive enough to follow him.

Another item that may not make the cave seem as convincing, is the fact that one person’s truth may not be another’s and enlightenment is subjective. One person may undergo an experience that enlightens him, and another may not. I believe this is the case with the cave allegory.

Ignorance is bliss? Perhaps the Prisoners would have been happy if they were left alone, without enlightenment. They seemed content as they were, why spoil it? Although I believe this point to be valid, Plato tells us that the knowledge of enlightenment far outweighs the bliss of ignorance. The problem is, how do you know until it’s too late?

Plato thought that true knowledge could be gained through our minds, in ascension to the metaphysical, and away from the false physical. So through the powers of logical thought, we can know real knowledge. He thought that true knowledge lay beyond the senses, and at the heart of reality is the concept of the forms. I find Plato’s allegory quite a convincing piece, due to the sound logic and concepts that he has put across. Although there are some aspects I would dispute to be necessary, I believe it to be a good metaphor for the effect of education on how you perceive the world.

I feel that Plato’s Cave analogy makes a convincing point. That education is necessary to have a wider view on the world. If we had no knowledge, certainly a far smaller section of the tapestry of the world would be revealed, something that, according to Plato, would detract from our lives.

In it, Descartes discusses several of Aristotelian doctrines and questions its basic principles such as the necessity of senses to our thinking. Descartes examines the Aristotelian concept that all knowledge stems from the senses and that mental states merely resemble them. Descartes did not agree with this view. He believes that perceptions from the senses are unreliable and that reasoning by the deduction is the right method to arrive at the right conclusion.

Descartes began his Meditations with the idea of skepticism. Then, he slowly showed the importance of recognizing senses and imagination as part of the mental processes. Descartes made a controversial claim that the mind and body do not have anything in common. He arrived at this conclusion by observing that our mind is made to think and the body merely extends our thoughts.

A number of philosophers support Descartes ideas but his theory on the mind-body link is still controversial even to this day. A number of advocates of mind-body link believe that the mind greatly affects the body as opposed to Descartes separate function of mind and body and that the one could not affect the other.

His view on religion is equally thought-provoking. He believes the perception of God is innate, which means it was there by the time we were born and must be put there by a Higher Being. Descartes just like Plato believes in the presence of God, a benevolent God, as he termed it.

Since God is benevolent, then we can rely on the reality our senses provide us because God provided us with a mind and senses that do not deceive us. This argument could be seen as flawed and subject to contention but through this, Descartes firmly established the concept of acquiring knowledge through the use of senses or perception and deduction. That reason could be the only way to attain knowledge.

Descartes idea of Utopian society would probably be one where the improvement of thinking, senses and imagination or, the mental faculties is encouraged. Being a rationalist, Descartes believe that clarity of perceptions of the mind is the best way to gain knowledge. The information derived from the senses merely helps us to live in a practical manner.

Utopia is based mostly on Plato's Republic. In The Republic, Plato expounds on his idea of an idea society. The society is basically characterized by an abundance of equality and a general pacifist attitude. The citizens are however ready to wage battle should the need arise. Poverty and misery are non-existent. Laws are reduced to the basics. There are no lawyers. Citizens do not need to go to war. Instead mercenaries from neighboring states are hired in the hope that they would be extinguished in their missions thus reducing the evils in the world.

Plato's Utopia is a religious one. In The Republic, Plato expounds his belief in the Form of the Good which actually pertains to God. He compares the Form of the Good to the sun. He says that just as the sun radiates light, so the form of the good radiates truth. Plato believes that the highest form of knowledge is the form of the good, from which all things that are considered just derives their worth. Humans are bounded by duty to find the good, but no one can hope to achieve this without philosophical reasoning.

Plato and Descartes seem to agree that there is a need to search for reasons in order to reach the highest good or attain deeper spirituality. Just like Descartes, Plato believes that in order to arrive at the right conclusion, humans have to travel from perception to reason and understanding.

The things that we perceive are actually mere shadows of the walls. True reality is the ideas in our mind and the form of Good which is God.

Plato's arguments have religious bent on them unlike Descartes who sees reasoning as an end in itself. Plato sees reasoning as a means to arrive at the end which is enlightenment and God.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Metaphor of the Sun and Analogy of the Divided Line in The Republic captured the essence of this view. The particular and the concrete are not the ultimate real forms in Plato's intellectual world which is represented by the general and the abstract. The particular and the concrete then are just mere representations of the general and the abstract. They bore only a striking resemblance of the ultimate reality found in the intellectual world.

The metaphor for particular and the concrete is shadows of cut-out shapes found on the walls of the cave which are mere symbols of the truth outside the cave lighted up by the sun.

In the “divided line”, “allegory of the cave” and the “image of the sun”, Plato discusses the metaphysics that divides the world into two separate aspects: the intellectual world of “forms”, and the visible or perceptual world we see around us. The visible world comprises of imperfect copies of the intellectual world of forms or ideas. These forms are unalterable and perfect. These can only be understood by the use of the intellect or understanding such as using that part of the mind that does not include sense-perception or imagination.

Plato's account of reality affirms the need to recognize the fact that reality is not what we see alone. Reality is much more than that. Reason, imagination and spiritual values form another part of reality that is as real and undeniable as those we see or perceive through our senses.

At the top this intellectual world is the Good, which shines down on all. Next is the form, the perfect versions of earthly objects which we remember when we see the objects. The forms provide us with our understanding, knowledge, and intelligence. We understand or know a horse because of the memory of the form horse. Next lowest is reason or thought based on axioms.

Then we cross the divider in the line, the visible things to which the other side of the line is applied. At the top of this lower section is belief, or perception based ideation. Next is the imagination.

One of the aspects in the intellectual world is reason. At the top of the ladder is the Good, followed by Form then Reason. The reason or thought is based on axioms. The reality statis of mathematical entities for Plato is that mathematical principles fall under Reason because they are too perfect to be considered part of the visible world.

 

Choosing just five ancient Western philosophers was not and easy task. Leaving out some, like the pre-Socratics, gives an incomplete picture of others. Explaining the convoluted history of their influences on modern life is the work of a lifetime! Hopefully this little article has gotten you to think about where some of our common themes come from and whetted your appetite for philosophy.