5. Plato's Analogy of the Cave

This is the last video on Plato and we're going to take a look at the analogy of the cave. We will consider the details of the analogy and then look at the meaning and purpose in relation to Plato's theory of forms. Plato told an analogous story to illustrate his theory of forms. Imagine a group of prisoners chained since childhood in an underground cave. They are unable to move their heads, able to look forward only. Imagine that behind them is a fire and between the fire and the prisoners a low wall has been built. There is a walkway where people are carrying various objects that rise above the wall including human images and shapes of animals. The fire casts shadows of the figures and objects onto the wall in front of the prisoners. Plato argued that such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects. One of the prisoners is freed from his shackles and compelled to stand up suddenly to lift his eyes to the light and in doing all this felt pain as the brightness of the fire hurts his eyes so that it is difficult to see the objects casting the shadows. He is told that what he had seen before was all a cheat and an illusion but that now he saw more truly. He is then dragged by force up the ascent which is rough and steep out into the light of the sun in the outside world. It is difficult for his eyes to adjust to the brightness so that he struggles to see. At first he can only bear to look down at the shadows and reflections in the water and later the things themselves and from these he would go on to contemplate the light of the stars and of the moon. Finally he would be able to look upon the sun itself. By now he has learned that it is because of the sun that he can see anything at all. That the sun is in some sort the cause of all these things that they have seen. Then if he recalled to his mind his first habitation still chained and deceived in the cave he would pity the prisoners there. If there had been honors and commendations among them which they bestowed to one another and prizes for the man who was quickest to make out the shadows as they pass he would not envy and emulate those who were honored but endure anything rather than opine with them and live that life. If he were to go down again and take his old place in the cave he would find it hard to see in the darkness having come from the bright light and if he tried to join in evaluating these shadows while his vision was still dim and before his eyes were accustomed to the dark the shackled prisoners would laugh at him for his inability to see the shadows well whilst they congratulate each other on their own proficiency they would say that he had returned from his journey aloft with his eyes ruined and if he tried to release them and lead them up to the light they would kill him if it were possible. Plato explained the meaning of this analogy. He explained that the prisoners are very much like humans who are chained or restricted from knowing the truth. The cave represents the empirical world of sense experience the region revealed through sight. Plato likened the light of the fire in it to the power of the sun and the shadows symbolize the imperfect particulars we observe. Like shadows these only resemble reality and lead to opinion rather than to knowledge. The ascent to light and the contemplation of the things above represent the soul's ascent to knowledge by a reason as the outside world represents the realm of the forms the realm of truth. Plato described it as the conversion of the mind from the twilight of error to the truth that climb up into the real world which we shall call true philosophy. The shadows and reflections viewed in the outside world represent the lower forms and objects and the objects and the heavenly bodies represent the higher forms. The sun represents the form of the good upon which all else is contingent dependent. Plato expanded on that symbol good is to the intellectual faculty what the sun is to that division and if you want to know more about that particular comparison look back again at the video all about the form of the good and the symbol of the sun. Epistemically Plato's using the analogy to try and convince us or to try and help us understand and consider our world as one of illusion and the realm of forms as the realm of truth. It helps us to understand the reaction of the philosopher as he comes closer to truth and the reaction of those around him who ridicule him and who are unable to accept and value and understand his journey. Through the analogy we are able to recognize the folly of the opinions that people have about this world being the source of truth when actually all around us is just illusion. It is also a reminder of the difficulty of journeying and the pain of journeying of letting go of those opinions and of seeking and grasping the truth about life. Ontologically the analogy helps us to understand the way in which the forms are more real as Plato describes it than the particulars that we see around us in this world and the idea of the shadows and the objects cast in the shadows which are not the real objects themselves remember they're simply puppets or carvings carried by these people. It helps us to understand how these are in some way like the real objects themselves but not the real objects themselves just as the particulars are like the forms in that they instantiate the forms but they are not the forms themselves and that's the metaphysics that's shown in the analogy. This video has been brought to you by Just Education. Thank you for watching and please subscribe to find out more.