REPUBLIC..doc

REPUBLIC The Allegory of the Cave—also known as the Analogy of the Cave, Plato’s Cave, or the Parable of the Cave—is an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate “our nature in its education and want of education”. It is written as a dialogue narrated by Plato’s friend Socrates and Plato’s brother Glaucon at the beginning of Book VII. The Allegory of the Cave is presented after the metaphor of the sun and the analogy of the divided line. All three are characterized in relation to dialectic at the end of Book VII and VIII. This is also Plato’s illustration as his attempt to answer one of the most fundamental questions of philosophy. That is, how do we know what we know? He is purporting that concepts, the knowledge of particulars as integrated into universals, exist entirely outside of the particulars, that concepts (ideas) exist first in some unknown place, a super-natural place, as a Form and that a percept (a real thing) is dependent upon or actually created by the concept. In other words, he is saying that something can come from nothing. Contrast this to his student, Aristotle, who successfully debunks Plato’s theory of the Forms as “empty talk” (Metaphysics, I.9) and proceeds to prove that something can only come from something. Therefore, percepts come first and then the human mind identifies concepts in accord with the facts. For Plato reality is ex-nihilo and for Aristotle reality is axiomatic. And so goes the wrestling rumble of the Ages, belief vs. understanding, faith vs. reason, what is not vs. what is. This image is useful in picturing what the setup in the cave is actually supposed to look like. As you can see, the humans are forced to perceive only the shadows cast upon the wall. These define their reality. The people are cuffed at the neck and waist by chains, making it impossible to turn or move away from the wall in front of them. Behind them there is a large fire as well as several figures given the