GER: week 3

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Plato (428/427-248/347 BC), the pupil of Socrates and the founder of the first University, used the “Socratic method” in this text, i.e. posing a series of questions to his students, in order to teach them not only what he had in mind, but also show them that they didn’t know as much as they thought they did. The Republic’s dialogues are about the ideal state, which Plato wanted to see governed by a wise “philosopher king.” An allegory puts abstract ideas into a concrete setting, in order to make a point by comparison. It requires us to think about what each component in the allegory could represent and how its message applies to a specific context.

1. Read the following text and mark it up with your questions and notes (this also works in PDFs). Think about what this allegory might mean and how it could relate to the concepts of “life,” “art,” and “definitions.”

Plato, The Republic, excerpt from book VII, usually referred to as “The Allegory of the Cave” Socrates: And now, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: Behold human beings living in a underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. Glaucon: I see. Socrates: And do you see, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent. Glaucon: You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners. Socrates: Like ourselves; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

Glaucon: True; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads? Socrates: And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows? Glaucon: Yes. Socrates: And if they were able to converse with one another, would they

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not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them? Glaucon: Very true. Socrates: And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow? Glaucon: No question. Socrates: To them the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. Glaucon: That is certain. Socrates: And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains. The glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows. And then conceive some one saying to him that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision. What will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them. Will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him? Glaucon: Far truer. Socrates: And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes that will make him turn away to take in the objects of vision that he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him? Glaucon: True. Socrates: And suppose once more that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he's forced into the presence of the sun itself. Is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities.

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Glaucon: Not all in a moment. Socrates: He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves. Then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven. And he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day? Glaucon: Certainly. Socrates: Last of all, he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of it in the water. But he will see it in its own proper place, and not in another, and will contemplate it as it is. Glaucon: Certainly. Socrates: He will then proceed to argue that this is that which gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way, the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold? Glaucon: Clearly he would first see the sun and then reason about it. Socrates: And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would be pleased with the change, and pity them? Glaucon: Certainly, he would.

Socrates: And if they were in the habit of conferring honors among themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after, and which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with Homer, “Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner?”

Glaucon: Yes, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner. Socrates: Imagine once more, such an one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation;

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would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness? Glaucon: To be sure. Socrates: And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the cave, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable) would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death. Glaucon: No question. Socrates: This entire allegory, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison- house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.…

Images and Plato’s text: https://criticalthinking-mc205.wikispaces.com/Plato+%26+Socrates

2. Finish your notes and watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RWOpQXTltA Take notes about anything this video changes about your understanding of the text.

Plato’s allegory does not just point at the philosopher king (someone who has left the cave to find true knowledge), but it also exemplifies his “Theory of Forms” or “Theory of Ideas.” Just like shadows are imperfect representations of actual objects, every object imperfectly represents its Form or Idea. To give an example: there is a form or idea of THE CAT, and because of it, we can recognize every cat as A CAT. But no two cats are the same, and so it is only the Form or Idea of THE CAT that ties them together.

http://www.gre.ac.uk/

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An Idea or Form is not a material object (unlike the cat purring on your lap), so Plato uses this theory to show us the difference between the material and the metaphysical world (the world of Ideas).

3. Try to think of an example where the difference between an object and its idea becomes apparent.

Many centuries later, the French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) complicated Plato’s ideas. Like Plato, he realized that he could never be sure of the material world. Sure, he could touch the cat on his lap and hear it, but what if his senses betrayed him? Did he not have a life-like dream of a purring cat on his lap just last night? And if he is truly awake and sane, perhaps he is being deceived or manipulated by someone or something? In the end, he concluded that he could only be sure of his own existence – not because he could pinch himself and feel it, but because the smallest common denominator, the thing that never went away in his existential doubt, was his thinking. He famously concluded, Cogito, ergo sum = I think, therefore I am. With this, he founded modern philosophy and extended Plato’s idea by showing the separation of our bodies (senses, material objects) from our minds (thought, reason, and ideas), called Cartesian Dualism (Cartesian=belonging to Descartes; yes, the guy is famous enough for his own adjective!).

4. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A6UKoMcE10 for a little recap of Cartesian theory. Try to replicate his experiment of doubting the reality of everything for a couple of minutes. Take notes about your experience.