The_Allegory_of_the_Cave

The Path to Education Learning is not defined by any one moment or singular event; rather, it is an extended process. Just as any grand edifice, wisdom cannot be attained in one step. Socrates illustrates this idea most descriptively with his allegory of the cave. In this extended metaphor, education is defined through a four-step process comprising of imagination, belief, thought, and understanding. In creating this allegory Socrates’ goal is to show the path to wisdom and to explain the four distinct types of people that emerge along this path. The first stage of this allegory begins with the trapped prisoners who see nothing but the shadows cast onto the wall in front of them. Their ultimate reality is the shadows. This is significant because it means that the extent of the prisoners’ knowledge is distorted imitations of objects, they are not by any means witnessing true reality. To make it worse, not only are these entrenched prisoners seeing mutated shadows, they are seeing shadows cast by fire—which is not the ultimate source of light. Socrates utilizes these two details to emphasize the lack of true knowledge held by the prisoners. Everything about what they know is in some way deformed, changed, or replicated. For this reason, these prisoners are said to be in the imagination stage. Their reality is nothing higher than imagination; and it is through this imagination that they are able to understand their world due to being chained down in the abyss of the cave. This entire stage is comparable to people in modern society who are of the lowest level of knowledge; the level of knowledge defined by the shadows. Humans at this level would see the forms as being whatever demonstrates them in their “world.” For example, if they lived in our day in age they might say, “Tiger Woods is courageous, so whatever he does must be true courage.” They can only explain higher ideas through what they see in the cave. How does advancement come from here' It comes when the trapped prisoners are freed and able to see the fire and the shadow creating objects. Upon doing this, the minds of the prisoners are opened for the first time. Instead of being confined to base ideas they are opened to truth—well, at least partial truth. This new dose of information brings belief into the minds of the prisoners. They now are able to physically see that the shadows exist and see what they come from. This is the stage of belief. It is analogous to when a child first goes to school; his mind is shocked, and although he does not have a full knowledge he now believes. At this stage a cleavage arises between the prisoners and the believers. Knowledge has begun to set the believers apart from those stuck in the abyss. Being able to see the truth of the shadow, the prisoners’ minds have taken a step into illumination. Nonetheless they are vulnerable and weak, just as a new student is in his education. Their minds are not seasoned and because their reason is nearly dormant they are easily moved and persuaded. In continuation, as a person is loosed from the cave the sun blinds him—he cannot see anything. This is a peculiar part of the allegory due to the fact that most people do not initially think that along the process of education there would come a point when a man is suddenly “dumb.” However, that is not the meaning of this stage; rather, Socrates is showing that the prisoners are not accustomed to the light, and therefore cannot look at or comprehend it. They are even unable to look directly at flowers, trees, and stones; they have to begin with shadows and reflections. This portion of the metaphor demonstrates how on the road to wisdom, if an ignorant man is exposed to real truth he will not comprehend it. The blind man cannot understand that which he has not taken the time to understand. This stage is called the thought stage—it is where reason begins to show forth in the mind of the prisoner. In this phase he begins to be able to formulate hypotheses and theories about the world around him. After a period of time, his eyes adjust to the light and he gazes directly at the objects themselves. By so doing the prisoner is almost at real truth, he is almost at the absolute reality. He now knows the true manifestation of the replications and imitations that he was subject to in the cave. The ultimate forms are beginning to be seen because although while in the thought stage a man cannot see the ultimate form of good—the sun—he is able to see the direct consequences of its actions, of its being. Because real objects can now be seen, the prisoners in this step provide definitions for their surroundings and of the forms, instead of merely giving examples. These definitions cannot be proven or verified while in this stage because of the fact that there is still one aspect of the forms that has not been seen: the sun itself. Until being able to see the source of all, the men are confined to gazing upon the manifestation of it. But finally, after all the trials of the path to education, after all the burdens of the channel to illumination, the prisoners receive a full knowledge. The ultimate ability to look upon the sun itself is what defines the last stage of Socrates’ Allegory. After an entire lifetime of being trapped in the reality of ‘how the sun acts’, or ‘how the forms behave’, when the men are able to see ‘what the sun is’, and ‘what the true forms are’ it is life changing. For the first time they are able to comprehend the meaning of all things. They now know the source of all knowledge and of all reality. The prisoners are able to witness that without the sun there would be nothing. Upon looking upwards to the heavens the prisoners’ minds undergo the last transformation to become philosopher kings. It is interesting to note that once they see reality’s point of origin, they receive a full understanding. By putting this in his allegory, Socrates is showing that once a man sees the source, he understands everything. A comparison can be made to Joseph Smith and various other prophets of old; these men stated that they received knowledge of all when they communicated with God. These prophets often said that their minds were opened; this is because they saw the ultimate source, they saw the ultimate light. And this light illuminated reality for them. Now, it would appear as though this arrives to be the ultimate state of the philosopher. He achieves pure knowledge through seeing the cause of pure knowledge, and now he cannot go any higher right' If only it were so. Now, armed with so much wisdom, it is the philosopher’s duty to return to his lesser comrades who find themselves entrenched in the darkness of the cave. The philosopher is the only man capable of leading them because being a leader requires knowledge. And how can the prisoner who is bound to see only shadows and reflections provide true leadership for his people' He cannot. He must have a higher lever of illumination, he must be able to see and understand the ultimate reality—the ultimate form of the good. With great power comes great responsibility. This is the reason for which the philosopher must lead the people of the cave: he is the only man capable. As is seen throughout history, the men who are eager to rule rarely make good rulers. It is those who are hesitant for power, those who see ruling as a duty rather than a spoil, which are the best of leaders. This is the motivation for the philosopher to lead; he is driven by his desire to save the community from the injustice of a lesser leader. This is noteworthy because it shows that by rising to the top of the chain, one must drop back to the bottom to serve. It is the duty of the learned philosopher to serve his people and to use the wisdom he has attained to lead the prisoners by the hand. However, when the philosopher returns to lead his people and to educate them, they understand him not. It is similar to the idea portrayed in the scriptures that when the lord comes the wicked will know him not. Why is this' It is because darkness cannot comprehend the light. The prisoners, stuck in the abyss, are incapable of comprehending the light that the philosophers hold. This is why philosophers, the lovers of wisdom, are seen to be outcasts of society. They are not understood and are therefore seen to be weird. So even though the philosopher knows the true path that the city should follow, often times the city will resist him. It is one of the ironies of the path to education: those who arrive at the truest of knowledge are resisted the most. Just as Joseph Smith was resisted after seeing God, the ultimate source, philosopher kings are resisted after seeing the true form of good. And so we see how Socrates illustrates the course to wisdom; it is set at arriving to the true forms, the form of the good, but it is bogged down by the inability of the dark to comprehend the magnitude of the light.