On Plato's Famous Cave Allegory

Posted: 7/9/2017

Trigger

Recently, I watched a YouTube video on Plato’s book Republic (514-520 BC) when I was reminded of the famous cave described by Plato. I had learnt about this cave allegory before, but only now I feel I have perhaps gained a deeper insight in the profound meaning of it.

What We Owe To The Ancient Greeks

Western people are largely defined by their greco-judeo-christian background. The greco part is unfortunately often omitted. Antisemitism tries to eliminate the judeo part.

My late father used to say something like the ancient Greek philosophers, writers, and poets have already discovered everything essential about human nature. Everything that came after is refinement, expansion or so.

Relevance Of The Allegory Of The Cave

Here is the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

I will not repeat here the story of the cave, but instead focus on its import or implications even today:

1. More than 250 years ago since the era of Enlightenment began, many people, including many well educated people,  in Western countries still live in such a cave (or prison of their own making) as described by Plato.
2. These prisoners live blind in a very narrow reality and they cannot or would not free themselves from their imagined shackles
3. Many of those people who claim to be knowledgeable are in fact often very pretentious and prone to enormous hubris
4. The prisoners do not even desire to leave their prison. False fear and anxiety prevent this since they know no better life
5. Many of these prisoners would even voluntarily return to their prison once they were freed and escaped the cave

Hope Springs Eternal And Is Last To Die

What can be done to free more people from their cave at last:

1. Public education (government monopoly and a government instrument of control and power) needs to be phased out or greatly reduced. More variety and pluralism through private education like in Socrates and Plato’s times
2. Corrosive philosophies such as  historicism, scientism, and relativism need to be thoroughly debunked
3. Collectivist or other central plan ideologies that deny individual freedom and responsibility, or voluntary human cooperation, or human ingenuity, or charity, or humanity  are to be exposed as such
4. To restore more freedom and responsibilities to individual citizens instead of crave to cradle government paternalism and power and control over citizens
5. To restore more freedom to businesses and markets
6. To restore more federalism and smaller government