Overcoming the Shadows: The Allegory of the Cave
Many profess to be exhausted by the low level of current discourse. It may be surprising, but the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato might be just the guide we need.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is perhaps the most famous passage from classical philosophy and for good reason. In this passage, Plato provides a compelling image of the human condition. In this depiction, man is held captive by ignorance, he is deceived by mysterious puppeteers, and, as a result, spends his time in the vain pursuit of shadows — shadows that he mistakes for reality. It is a dark image to be sure, and it should not be softened.
The central thesis of the Cave is clear: for the most part, man lives almost entirely in unreality and delusion. He is almost completely wrong about the nature of reality and radically misperceives what is truly desirable. Indeed he is a captive in almost every way. And, it is important to remember, that the “Cave” in Plato’s Allegory, depicts the ordinary lot of men and women who live in relatively advanced political communities like ancient Athens. Unbeknownst to them, the members of this community are bound to chairs in such a way that they can only look towards the back of the cave wall. Looking in this direction, the captives see a complex interplay of shadows moving across the back wall of the cave; and since the captives are ignorant of all else, they take the shadows to be reality.
Whence come the shadows on the back of the wall? Up and behind the captives, we find a group of puppet masters operating their puppets behind a low wall, but in front of a large fire. These puppet masters arrange the sequence and interplay of the shadows which the captives take for reality. This picture of the human condition is at once a bit absurd and compelling.
Manipulation and Ignorance
Without developing a detailed exposition, several elements of the allegory are especially provocative. Clearly, to Plato’s mind, most of mankind has the status of being a captive. The wider context of the Republic suggests that most men are captivated by sensations — sights and sounds — and popular political opinions. This means that for most of us, our thinking does not rise above a confused amalgam of received political opinion and imagination (even fantasy). In fact, the situation is even worse, for the shadows are not a natural phenomenon. Rather they are guided and manipulated by puppet masters. Again the context suggests that we are talking about artists (broadly construed) and politicians. If this is true, then mankind is not only held captive but manipulated — even actively misled. In this scenario, the ordinary man’s morality and political judgment is captivated by images and sensations; politics and the image-makers rule over all. To be honest, this sounds eerily familiar. But we cannot stop here for it gets worse.
In the Cave men are not only controlled by others, they are also deceived as to the nature of reality itself. Having always lived in the cave, the captives take the shadows on the wall to be the substance of real things. In the mind of such a person the shadow of the “duck-puppet” is in reality a duck. But of course nothing could be further from the truth, for the shadow is only the silhouette of a duck-puppet, not an actual, living and breathing duck. Indeed the captives know almost nothing; they know only the shadows of puppets. Captivated by ignorance, man loses both freedom and reality.
Hope and the Human Condition
Plato has presented us with a dark, indeed dreadful picture of the human condition. But is it so? Certainly the image is overly dramatic and borders on cynicism, but caught up in the unfolding political history of our own times — living within our own maelstrom of anger, irrationality, riot, and decadence — it is difficult to doubt the truth of Plato’s depiction. Indeed the power of politically manipulated images seems to be greater than ever. Nevertheless, for my own part, I do not think that Plato’s depiction is entirely correct. I am not so pessimistic; I contend that many men of common sense and good character remain and that the force of the natural law has not been entirely extinguished from the hearts of Americans. Plato is great and wise, but he is an unapologetic elitist, and I am not. But I do not intend to take much away from the truth or seriousness of the Platonic vision. Even if it is not entirely correct, the Platonic vision is more true than false. I believe that the enduring appeal of this image is connected to those experiences when our delusions dissipate and what we took to be real, solid, and good turns out to be merely a mirage. This disillusionment is painful, even excruciating to be sure, but it is at the same time liberating, for it draws us from delusion to reality. And even within Plato’s dark picture the liberating light of truth remains a possibility.
If someone who has lived outside of the cave were to venture back into the depths, he may be able to liberate the captives. Such a man has seen the things in themselves; he has seen the truth and lived beyond manipulative images. Such a man would seem foolish to the cave dwellers, and he would certainly meet opposition, but he would be moved by the love of wisdom and loyalty to his kinsmen to endeavor nonetheless. And such a man was Socrates. For Plato, the cure for the human condition is philosophy. Indeed, for Plato, the value of philosophy is primarily medicinal; it is a curative to the soul. This may be surprising, especially if we have in mind the current institutional practice of philosophy, which is essentially a career in research. But Plato has in mind something much nearer the human spirit. By “philosophy” Plato means a way of life dedicated to the dynamic love of wisdom, critical self-examination, and rigorous dialogue. The benefits of this approach to life are largely obscured by our current educational system’s obsession with techne and quantifiable results. Nevertheless, the medicinal value of philosophy becomes apparent in comparison to the state of captivity depicted in Plato’s Allegory.
Philosophy as Care for the Soul
In the cave, politicians and artists enthrall the captives with manipulative images; the captives even compete for who can guess the sequence of images most accurately. These captives are considered victors (the successful). It is the sequence, the ever changing flow and interplay of the particular images that holds the attention captive — and the same can be said of the many today. But change and interaction are not possible without a multiplicity of images — without diversity. The captives are enchanted by the flow of change and diversity — the varied flow is just the thing. This is what creates the transfixed stare of the ignorant. If this is so, then curative is obvious: the changing and diverse must be replaced by the permanent and the universal; this is precisely the power and mission of philosophy.
In Plato’s perspective, philosophy is the love of wisdom and wisdom consists in a well-tested vision of the permanent and universal. Without delving into too much detail, Plato employs the Socratic method in a variety of ways to show that common opinions or the views of pseudo-experts are groundless. In most cases, the search for wisdom leads back to the issue of definition and meaning. Again and again, Plato shows that his interlocutors do not understand what they are talking about. As it turns out, even the manipulators are ignorant, for they do know the permanent and universal meaning of things — they are merely clever.
The Search for Meaning
Anyone who has taken classical logic knows that defining is not easy. It requires abstraction from individualizing and peripheral properties. In this way one brings into view a universal and stable meaning or definition. With patience, reason may distinguish the transitory and circumstantial from what is abiding and essential. It involves comparing objects and categories, making careful distinctions, identifying shared elements, and eventually abstracting the meaning. Once this is achieved one has a stable standard of meaning and truth in a given domain. This is part of what it means to love wisdom — observe, compare, distinguish, abstract, define — and this is just what we need to escape manipulation and fantasy. Too often we are manipulated or deceived because we have not done the work of defining our terms. Think about how powerful and useful this would be in our context. In recent years our culture has been convulsed by angry debates and even violence in which terms and ideas are rarely defined with precision. At a very different level of culture, terms like success, happiness, and ambition are used to motivate (and even assess) the young and middle-aged. But how often do we critically reflect on the meaning of these terms? I suggest that we do not do so enough and that what we need is for more citizens to become lovers of wisdom — to engage in the critical and informed search for meaning. There is of course a great deal more to philosophy than the search for meaning and definition, but this process is the foundation, the first step.
Plato’s Allegory, provides us with a dark vision of humanity held captive by manipulation, ignorance, and fantasy. Experience suggests that this vision is largely correct. But we need not despair, for Plato also indicates the cure for our sick souls, namely, the love of wisdom, which in the first instance requires the rigorous and critical search for meaning. In Plato’s perspective, this is the way out of the Cave. This is a strong claim to say the least and perhaps the curative power of philosophy is limited. Nevertheless, for those held captive by manipulation and images, it is surely worth a try.