What does it all
mean?
Highlight all the allegorical
meanings in this text and then
annotate your storyboard
appropriately.
Let’s go through it step by step.
In Republic book VII Plato
explains his analogy of the cave
(an analogy is a simple story that has metaphorical meaning).
Plato's analogy begins in a cave. The cave is meant to represent the physical world or
the world of sense experience. A number of prisoners are bound by their necks and
legs so that they cannot turn around. They have been this way since birth and know
no other life than this. Behind the prisoners are a low wall, a walkway and a fire that
burns. From time to time individuals carry objects like marionettes in front of the
fire and shadows are cast against the wall in front of them. The prisoners observe
the shadows that flicker before them and have developed a game over time. They try
to predict the movements of the shadows. They associate the sounds made by the
individuals with the shadows as this is all they know. They think of them as true
reality.
The prisoners in this case represent the ignorant unenlightened individuals yet to
discover philosophical truth. They are duped into believing that the shadows they
see are the real objects in themselves or that the sounds the people make are being
made by the shadows. Plato argues that the shadows and games played are
equivalent to the five senses deceiving the individual. He believes that the objects we
see in the physical world are pale reflections or imitations of the true ‘Form' of that
object in the World of Forms. Furthermore the individuals in the analogy that carry
the marionettes represent the Athenian government that wished to maintain the
status quo and discouraged free and independent thought. Plato asks us to imagine
that one of the prisoners were to be set free. He would stand with some pain and
become dazed and confused by the bright fire light. He would struggle to adjust to
his new view of the environment. He would quickly realise that the shadows he saw
on the walls were not the real objects themselves. Plato suggests that if the prisoner
were led to the entrance to the cave he would have to struggle up the steep and
jagged rocks to climb out of the cave. This journey out of the cave by the prisoner is
the journey of the new philosopher to enlightenment. Just like the released prisoner,
the new philosopher struggles to take in his new world view. It is a painful process
thinking in new ways. This is clearly represented in the ascent out of the cave up the
steep and jagged rock path.
Once outside the prisoner would further struggle to understand the new world that
was around him. At first he would simply focus on the shadows that objects cast in
the sun. But given time he would be able to see objects as they really are, in full
shape and colour. - the World of the Forms (which we will be looking at later this
week, so don’t worry too much if this bit is hard!) . It is the sun that provides the
true shape and colour in the analogy and so the sun represents the Form of the Good
(FoG). Plato is stating that the FoG gives all of the other Forms their shapes. This is
the goal of every philosopher; to gain intimate knowledge of the FoG and realise that
the physical world (or the cave) is not true reality. It should also be noted that the
fire in the cave is a superficial sun. The fire that burns only gets its energy from
wood which comes Plato believes that true knowledge can only be found in the
WoFs. This means that any knowledge that comes through the five senses cannot be
true as the physical world is in a state of constant change and flux. Only through
developing the skill of reason can the philosopher hope to understand the nature of
reality. Plato believes that the soul has been caught in the body and that the only
escape is to become like the philosopher and discover true reality. He believes that
the soul exists in the WoFs and has always done so. This is why he places such an
emphasis on reason. The mind is the key. Through the mind we can reason back to
our souls to remember the nature of things.
Once the philosopher is enlightened Plato suggests that they will return to the cave
to tell others of their enlightenment. He suggests that if the philosopher were to try
to tell the others in the cave that there was a whole other world outside the cave
they would laugh at them. If they persisted to try and convince them that this was
the case then the prisoners would be prepared to kill them. Here Plato is making the
point that the unenlightened are prepared to believe the established order (in
Plato's time the Athenian government) rather than think for themselves. This is a
reference to the death of his teacher Socrates.