I’ve never visited Plato’s cave, which I assume is located somewhere in Greece. But I’ve certainly come across stories about subsequent philosophers who’ve visited the cave, in their imaginations.
In case some of my readers haven’t heard about this cave, Plato imagined it in his book, Republic, written in about 375 BC. The allegory is a bit complicated for non-philosophers, and maybe also a bit nutty, but the basic premise is that most people have a limited understanding of reality, and that a few of us — the philosophers who have gained what we believe to be enlightenment — are obligated not only to educate the uneducated, but in fact, to be their rulers.
(There’s some disagreement about the proper translation of the Greek word, φιλόσοφος. Some translate it literally as “lover of wisdom”. Others might choose to translate it as “writer of humor columns”. I will let the reader decide.)
To state the allegory in simplistic terms, Plato invites us to imagine a cave full of prisoners, chained so that they can’t move their heads and who are thus forced to view shadows dancing on the wall of the cave.
The shadows are cast by people and objects moving past the entrance to the cave, and the poor prisoners have no reasonable option but to believe that the shadows are ‘reality’. But somehow, one or more of the prisoners manage to free themselves from the chains and climb out into the sunlight, where they find themselves blinded, at least momentarily, by the light.
Soon enough, however, their eyes adjust to the light, and the escaped prisoners begin to perceive the real world, and quickly come to the understanding that the images cast on the cave walls were nothing more than shadows of reality.
In other words, what people were watching, inside the cave, was sort of like social media.
The philosopher (or humor columnist, if you so prefer) has the option to stay out in the sunshine… where, I am imagining, he has a view of a vast sandy beach covered with Greek women tanning themselves…
… or he can return to the cave and try to convince the prisoners that a very different world exists just outside the cave. Plato suggests, however, that the philosopher who dares return to the cave risks being killed by the prisoners, who prefer a world of misinformation.
The hero in his book, Republic, is none other than Socrates, who was in fact sentenced to death for pretty much that very crime: trying to enlighten the prisoners about a false reality.
Socrates could have stayed safely at the beach, but he probably noticed that the women were all checking social media posts. At any rate, he walked boldly back into the cave, and we all know how that turned out.
Had he been a Greek humor columnist, instead of a Greek philosopher, maybe he would still be alive today.
What’s not clear from Plato’s famous book is whether all the prisoners inside the cave were males, or if the cave was equally populated by men and women. I like to think that the women were all at the beach, and I don’t even mind if they want to check their text messages.
If that were in fact the case, and if I were a philosopher, I would run into the cave and holler, “Hey, guys! There’s a bunch of girls outside on the beach!” Then I would hightail it out of there, before I got killed. Let them sit there, looking at shadows, if that’s what they want.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.