Christian Analysis of "The Republic of Plato"

7. Book VII

Book VII

The Cave - Introduction

 Socrates creates a visualization of education and its effects on the soul; the difference between reality and its reflections in the “Allegory of the Cave” records and measures the nature and want of education (514a). This comes after the teaching of the nature of illumination in Book VI (507d-509c) through the sun as a metaphor. This metaphor becomes the brilliance that sends rays of light into the cave and creates the shadows, as Socrates leads the discussion of education into the deeper realms of philosophic thought, and then into the light of reality that allows examination of the public education system even in modern day.

This metaphor begins with a group of captive students that have lived in a deep cave all of their lives.  It is dark; the students have never seen sunlight.  They are bound and prevented from moving their heads in either direction; they can only stare straight ahead.  There is a fire behind them, and a shelf wall with statues that are manipulated by others hidden from the student.  The students watch as the shadows move across the wall they look upon.  They think of these shadows as reality, since it is all they have ever seen.

When the imprisoned student is freed from the bonds and able to look about, his eyes are blinded temporarily by the firelight, and he feels the pain of light briefly. When his eyes are able to focus, he see the shadows are merely a reflection of an image that is much clearer behind the bound students.  He thinks that the fire and statues are real things in the world, far superior to the shadows that he first watched.

The freed student is unaware of the world beyond the cave until he is dragged from his cave into the brilliant light of the sun.  His eyes once again feel the pain of illumination, and it takes a bit, but he eventually recognizes the real objects separate their shadows and reflections.

After a while the student becomes aware that the sun shines and illuminates reality.  At some point the enlightened student recognizes that there is still something he cannot see that is behind the brilliant sun, the place of First Cause.

Parallels

Plato assumes that the world revealed by human senses is merely a shadow, a copy, of reality.  The reality is only able to be found through the intellectual pursuit of the student.  However, knowledge cannot be inserted into the students’ souls or make their blind eyes see from teachers with the common forms of instruction in public schools today (518c). Rather, students must recognize that their souls hold the power to turn toward the light, leave the darkened cave, and receive knowledge of illuminated reality (518c).

The metaphor for education, true education, is walking into the light.  Ideally, teachers must direct students’ attention to reality by acclimating their entire bodies and souls together, to turn toward the brightest parts of the cave, help them release the bonds that hold their attention to the wrong things, and guide them toward their individual journeys of enlightenment (518c). Thus, the turning around of the student should be the priority of the public educators rather than the force feeding of shadowed ideas; sadly, it is not (518d).

Bonds hold the students snuggly, preventing them from turning around and seeing the entrance of the cave, and past that, the enlightened world illuminated by the sun, and past that, the Good.   Ample rewards keep the heads unturned and the classrooms of kids easily manipulated to succeed on shadow analysis quizzes with the correct answers force-fed them routinely.

Puppet-handlers

The puppet-handlers entertain the captive students with shadow pictures. Puppet-handlers choose their puppets according to these goals; scientific inquiry advances the ability for puppet-handlers to present the shadows in ways that are beneficial to control the captive prisoners. Of course, teachers in the public education system have received their training from the puppet masters and present a united front in the regurgitation of shadow training according to government order and principles.

Shadows

These shadows do not contain music, classic studies, gymnastics, or the things about God, subjects of old that sought the Good and the True. Instead, they are bits and bytes of information are far-removed from the intellectual pursuits of enlightened minds, always based upon the shadow rather than the real.

Light

The light shines outside the cave; it reveals the true nature of things that create the shadows observed by the shackled in the darkened cave.  The light from the sun shines upon reality. It gives the few escapees from the cave a true knowledge that opens the potential for learning greater things as the students’ eyes adjust and students’ minds absorb reality that moves from merely “being” to fully “understanding” the nature of things.

The wise must be compelled to rule.  Herein lays the dilemma as those that are once delivered from darkness seldom desire to return to the mockery of the ignorant.  Students of the light learn the real truth of life and liberty. Should their potential reach past the illumination of the sun, they come to the First Cause, The Good, the fullness of Truth, and into the realm of the Creator of all reality that sets people free to learn more about Him and ultimately exist in harmony together in the City of God (519d, e, 520a).

The Philosopher/King knows the Form of Good through the focused, specific education, and has understanding and wisdom from that knowledge.

Goal of Education

The Philosopher/King must be educated in the Form of the Good with the instruction that emulates the cave example.  He must be able to look past the shadows, turn around freely, see the puppeteers, recognize the dimmer light of the fire, leave the cave and bask in the sunlight with enlightenment that is possible, while being aware that there is a greater something behind the sun and that is the First Cause.

Socrates has just concluded the logos forming the just city.  When asked if this just city were possible, and how it would be formed in reality, Socrates suggests banishing everyone from the town over ten-years-old and start educating the children according to their conclusion of the allegory of the cave. (541a)

Christian Application

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Reference:

Plato, The Republic of Plato - Translated with Notes and an Interpretive Essay by Allan Bloom, trans., Allan Bloom, Second ed. (Basic Books, 1968)