Allegory of the cave

thumb|Plato's allegory of the cave by [[Jan Saenredam, according to Cornelis van Haarlem, 1604, Albertina, Vienna]]

The allegory of the cave is an allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a, Book VII) to compare "the effect of education (παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates and is narrated by the latter. The allegory is presented after the analogy of the Sun (508b–509c) and the analogy of the divided line (509d–511e).

In the allegory, Plato describes people who have spent their entire lives chained by their necks and ankles in front of an inner wall with a view of the empty outer wall of the cave. They observe the shadows projected onto the outer wall by objects carried behind the inner wall by people who are invisible to the chained "prisoners" and who walk along the inner wall with a fire behind them, creating the shadows on the outer wall in front of the prisoners. The "sign bearers" pronounce the names of the objects, the sounds of which are reflected near the shadows and are understood by the prisoners as if they were coming from the shadows themselves.

Only the shadows and sounds are the prisoners' reality, which are not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent distorted and blurred copies of reality we can perceive through our senses, while the objects under the Sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason. Three higher levels exist: natural science; deductive mathematics, geometry, and logic; and the theory of forms.

Socrates explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not the direct source of the images seen. A philosopher aims to understand and perceive the higher levels of reality. However, the other inmates of the cave do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life.

Socrates remarks that this allegory can be paired with previous writings, namely the analogy of the Sun and the analogy of the divided line.

Summary

Introduction to the cave

Plato begins by having Socrates ask Glaucon to imagine a cave where people have been imprisoned from childhood. These prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them and not to look around at the cave, each other, or themselves (514a–b). Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway with a low wall, behind which people walk carrying objects or puppets "of men and other living things" (514b).

Return to the cave

Socrates continues, saying that the free prisoner would think that the world outside the cave was superior to the world he experienced in the cave and attempt to share this with the prisoners remaining in the cave attempting to bring them onto the journey he had just endured; "he would bless himself for the change, and pity [the other prisoners]" and would want to bring his fellow cave dwellers out of the cave and into the sunlight (516c). Socrates informs Glaucon that the most excellent people must follow the highest of all studies, which is to behold the Good. Those who have ascended to this highest level, however, must not remain there but must return to the cave and dwell with the prisoners, sharing in their labors and honors.

Plato's Phaedo contains similar imagery to that of the allegory of the cave; a philosopher recognizes that before philosophy, his soul was "a veritable prisoner fast bound within his body... and that instead of investigating reality of itself and in itself is compelled to peer through the bars of a prison".

Scholarly discussion

Scholars debate the possible interpretations of the allegory of the cave, either looking at it from an epistemological standpoint—one based on the study of how Plato believes we come to know things—or through a political (politeia) lens. Ferguson, on the other hand, bases his interpretation of the allegory on the claim that the cave is an allegory of human nature and that it symbolizes the opposition between the philosopher and the corruption of the prevailing political condition. In response, Hannah Arendt, an advocate of the political interpretation of the allegory, suggests that through the allegory, Plato "wanted to apply his own theory of ideas to politics". Conversely, Heidegger argues that the essence of truth is a way of being and not an object. Arendt criticised Heidegger's interpretation of the allegory, writing that "Heidegger... is off base in using the cave simile to interpret and 'criticize' Plato's theory of ideas".

Many see this as an explanation for the way in which the prisoner in the allegory of the cave goes through the journey, first in the visible world with shadows such as those on the wall,

frame|center|The divided line – (AC) is generally taken as representing the visible world and (CE) as representing the intelligible world.

The Analogy of the Sun refers to the moment in book six in which Socrates, after being urged by Glaucon to define goodness, proposes instead an analogy through a "child of goodness". Socrates reveals this "child of goodness" to be the Sun, proposing that just as the Sun illuminates, bestowing the ability to see and be seen by the eye with its light, so the idea of goodness illumines the intelligible with truth, leading some scholars to believe this forms a connection of the Sun and the intelligible world within the realm of the allegory of the cave.

Influence

The themes and imagery of Plato's cave has influenced civil thought and culture. For instance:

Francis Bacon used the term "Idols of the Cave" to refer to errors of reason arising from the idiosyncratic biases and preoccupations of individuals.
In his 1658 discourse, Urn Burial, Thomas Browne states: "A Dialogue between two Infants in the womb concerning the state of this world, might handsomely illustrate our ignorance of the next, whereof methinks we yet discourse in Platoes denne, and are but Embryon Philosophers".
Evolutionary biologist Jeremy Griffith's book A Species In Denial includes the chapter "Deciphering Plato's Cave Allegory".

In fiction and popular media

thumb|upright=1.3|Allegory of the cave

The films The Conformist (1970), World on a Wire (1973), Cube (1997), Dark City (1998), The Truman Show (1998), The Matrix (1999), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Island (2005), City of Ember (2008), Us (2019), and An Urban Allegory (2024) model Plato's allegory of the cave, as does the TV series 1899.
The Cave by José Saramago culminates in the discovery of Plato's Cave underneath the center, "an immense complex fusing the functions of an office tower, a shopping mall and a condominium".
Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) explores the themes of reality and perception explored in Plato's allegory of the cave and Bradbury references Plato's work in the novel.
Orphaned Land's 2018 release Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs is a concept album based on the allegory. Calling Plato an "unsung prophet", frontman Kobi Farhi explains that the "protest album" describes how humanity embraces the darkness and that the people are afraid to break their chains and embrace the light.
In a 2018 episode of the FX television series Legion, the allegory of the cave is presented and explained to the audience via an educational segment narrated by Jon Hamm. The segment uses the allegory as a metaphor for narcissistic personality disorder and compares it to the mental impact of social media usage.
In Honkai: Star Rail, The Amphoreus story arc and its official “Allegory of the Cave” soundtracks draw on Plato’s metaphor, using various narrative references to question the nature of perceived reality and truth, especially relating to the main antagonist of the story arc, Lycurgus.

References

External links

Animated interpretation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave at YouTube
TED-Ed: Plato's Allegory of the Cave at YouTube
Plato: The Republic, Book VII at Project Gutenberg
Plato: The Allegory of the Cave, from The Republic at University of Washington – Faculty
Plato: Book VII of The Republic, Allegory of the Cave at Shippensburg University