Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Plato is one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity. He is the founder of the theory of ideas, and in order to explain it, he created the allegory of the cave. This myth has become a symbol of metaphysics, epistemology and dialectics, as well as ethics and mysticism: the myth that expresses the whole life and works of Plato.
There are four meanings of the allegory:
1. The idea of the ontological gradation of existence and about the types of reality (sensible and supersensible) with its subtypes: shadows on the walls are a simple appearance of things; statues are the things perceived by senses; stone wall is a demarcation line between the two kinds of existence; objects and people outside the cave are true existence, leading to ideas; and the sun is the idea of Good.
2. The allegory symbolizes the levels of cognition: the contemplation of shadows is imagination (‘’eikasia’’), a vision of statues - (‘‘pistis’’), i.e., beliefs that lead us to understanding of objects as they are and to the image of the sun, at first indirectly and then directly. These are the phases of the dialectic with different levels, the last of which is pure intuition, intuitive intelligence.
3. There are also such aspects as ascetic, mystical, and theological. Life within the feelings only is cave life. Spirit life is life in the pure light of truth. The pathway from the sensual to the intelligible is "liberation from the shackles," i.e., transformation. Finally, the highest cognition of the “Good sun” is the contemplation of the divine.
4. This allegory has also a political aspect. Plato talks about a possible return to the cave of the one who was once released. The one is back to bring freedom to those with whom they’ve spent the long years of slavery [Bachelorandmaster].
For Plato's cave is a sensual world where people live. Like the prisoners of the cave, they believe that they learn the true reality through the senses. However, such life is just an illusion. The ideas of true world barely reach the prisoners. Philosopher can get a more complete picture of the world of ideas, constantly asking themselves questions and searching for answers. However, there is no point in trying to share the knowledge gained with the crowd, which is not able to break away from the everyday perception of illusions [Philosophyzer]. Therefore, Plato continues:
“And if you make them look at the light, do they feel pain in their eyes, and won’t they get back to the things which they able to look at, if they consider that these things are more real than those shown to them?” [Historyguide]
One of the prominent German philosophers Martin Heidegger in his ‘Plato’s Doctrine of Truth’ states that “the cave-like abode is the "image" for "the place of our dwelling, which (in an everyday way) is revealed to sight as we look around." The fire in the cave, which burns above those who dwell there, is the "image" for the sun. The vault of the cave represents the dome of the heavens. People live under this dome, assigned to the earth and bound to it. What surrounds and concerns them there is, for them, "the real" ["das Wirkliche"], i.e., that which is. In this cave-like dwelling they feel that they are "in the world" and "at home" and here they find what they can rely on [p.7].
I am interested in the political aspect of this allegory, and I understand the meaning of this myth, firstly, through a political point of view.
In this example, Plato clearly shows the difference between slavery and freedom. Slaves are people who are prisoners in the cave, although they seem to be free because they are "free" to express their views. However, their views are never taken into account. A truly free person is the one who, driven by a thirst for knowledge, finds the reality and truth of life in the harmony of the universal laws and the meaning of strikingly coordinated work of the universe and no less surprising miracle – a Human. In other words, slaves consider themselves free because they can freely say what they think, but a free person happily becomes a "slave" of the universe laws, which at the same time are their own laws.
We see that centuries have passed, but the idea of the "cave" hasn’t disappeared. Today it is relevant again. Today the "cave" formula - "democracy = freedom" is imposed on us. And nowadays, as always, when somebody creates another "cave", we need a politician-philosopher, who could stand out at the sunlight and show us our mistakes and illusory of shadows, among which we live.
The “cave” is taught people that they are free and can freely express their opinions. And the prisoners scream with pleasure scratching and smashing their own caves, without thinking that they’ll never be allowed to get out of it.
The cave is taught people to despise the "totalitarianism", but forgets to tell them that the cave itself is the embodiment of totalitarianism, where there is nothing but "freedom and democracy". But democracy can never be truly "totalitarian", that is, universal, because it will never reach the general consensus. After all, according to Plato, opinions do not carry the wisdom, because they are volatile and unstable [Bachelorandmaster]. Moreover, democracy easily turns into tyranny: everybody thinks that the majority enslaves minority, but in fact the opposite things happen, - "democratic minority" turns into slaves the uneducated and prone to succumb to hype majority.
I wish that people of our world, our modern "cave", saw that freedom is knowledge, freedom is the order, freedom is the ability to make responsible decisions that lead to the goal; that freedom is born in the soul, which is aware of his immortality and knows that its fate is not confined to the events of the physical life. After all, freedom is not only "the right to stamp your feet ", not the ability to shout, fight, steal, kill, or destroy simply out of a desire to hurt. Freedom is not to live for the sake of reproduction, like animals, it is not for nothing that we, people, have more intelligence than the poor creature. Freedom is not eternal idleness that loafers can while away the time in inertia only thanks to those who work Or the new freedom requires new slaves?
I would like people of the "20th century cave" to realize that all the words are distorted by those who use them incorrectly - out of ignorance or intentionally. And, as evidenced by the cycles of history, just like today it is not common to speak about totalitarianism, then after some time it won’t be common to speak about freedom and democracy. We should make a little effort and remember that if the cave in Plato's example was totalitarian in the true sense of the word (i.e., universal, comprehensive), the end of this myth would have been different. Universality is achieved when everybody rises to the top of the Truth, and in order to come to it, you need the advice of one wise man rather than a thousand cries of the ignorant.
So, let others, who only know how to create the caves, not speak about the light and the freedom. Let them tell us about the darkness and chains, and then we will see that they’ll have at least begun to speak the truth.
Work Cited
Bachelorandmaster.com. Plato's The Allegory of the Cave: Meaning and Interpretation. Web. 15 March 2016.
˂http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/creationofknowledge/allegory-of-the-cave.html#.VuflnZyLSUl˃
Steven Kreis. Historyguide.org, 1996-2014. Plato, The Allegory of the Cave. Web. 15 March 2016.
˂http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html˃
Heidegger, Martin. “Plato’s Doctrine of Truth”. Published in Martin Heidegger, Pathmarks, ed. William McNeill Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998 pp. 155-182 (here slightly revised). Web. 15 March 2016.
˂http://artsingames.free.fr/Heidegger,%20Martin%20%20Plato's%20Doctrine%20of%20Truth.pdf ˃
Trumpeter, Amy. Philosophyzer.com, 2012. “The Allegory of the Cave’ by Plato: Summary and Meaning.” Web. 15 March 2016.
˂ http://www.philosophyzer.com/the-allegory-of-the-cave-by-plato-summary-and-meaning/ ˃
