Working Short Paper - Eros and the Allegory of the Cave

Plato's 'Republic', 2020

The Allegory of the Cave is arguably the most famous part of the Republic. Although it is clearly related to the Sun and Divided Line analogies (indeed, Socrates explicitly connects the Cave and the Sun at 7.517bc), Plato marks its special status by opening Book VII with it, emphasizing its importance typographically, so to speak (he will do much the same thing in Book IX with the discussion of the tyrannical soul). Although an allegory is sometimes defined as a symbolic narrative that can be interpreted as having a hidden meaning, Plato is not cagey about the Cave Allegory's meaning: it is about 'the effect of education (παιδεία [paideia]) and the lack of it on our nature' (7.514a). Given how visual the allegory is, many readers will find it helpful to draw themselves a diagram of it. Education, the Allegory's topic, is not what most people think it is, says Plato: it is not 'putting knowledge into souls that lack it' (7.518b). Though education sometimes requires that kind of transmission of knowledge from teacher to student, this is not its essence, which instead is 'turning the whole soul' (7.518d)-turning it around, ultimately toward the Form of the good. Education as turning around is a powerful metaphor, capturing the way in which learning involves gaining new perspectives, seeing everyday things and events from new points of view. Everyone, Plato insists, is capable of education in this sense (7.518c). But not everyone is capable of making it out of the Cave into the intelligible world of the Forms, just as not everyone is capable of winning a Nobel Prize in Physics or an Olympic medal in Figure Skating. Nonetheless,

An in depth personal opinion on the notorious short philosophical work.

2009

5 Yet Plato's ideas on descent, catabasis, are more complicated. Catabasis is the way to anabasis, ascent: in eVect, the route downwards leads upwards, to knowledge. D. Clay subtly demonstrates that the Republic starts with Socrates' descent to Piraeus, continues with observation, theôria, of the events there, and Wnishes with his ascent to Athens: a philosophical analogue to Odysseus' catabasis into the netherworld, in order to discover the knowledge hidden from the mortals. The 'architectonic connection' between Socrates' journey and the catabasis and anabasis into and out of the cave shows that, even for Plato, the route to higher wisdom and enlightenment had to pass through lower realms of darkness (

The allegory of ‘The Cave’ in Book VII of the Republic as recounted by Plato is perhaps the most compelling and arguably the most vital metaphor that Socrates puts forward in his conversation with his interlocutors, particularly in relation to the field of education, as it provides a thought- provoking paradigm for the development of the dispositions necessity for the search of true knowledge. It not only encapsulates how our understanding of the world, and of what is of value, is based on the manner in which we have been socialised by our social, cultural and intellectual environment, but it also engenders the spirit of inquiry about fundamental questions concerning the nature and purpose of our existence. This essay briefly discusses how the allegory of ‘The Cave’ has significant implications for not only the way we view the social systems (of which the education system is a core feature) in which we are situated and the knowledge commonly accepted to be true, but also for the epistemological approach and dispositions necessary for the re- examination of their legitimacy and logic/soundness.

University of the Philippines

Plato’s educational scheme is indeed a “turning around” of the soul. His intensive training program involves (1) the soul’s liberation from the shackles of ignorance, (2) the soul’s painful but rewarding realizations of new realities, (3) the soul’s upward journey towards the light of understanding, and (4) the soul’s longing to use new found realities to set others free. By contrast, I sense that most of today’s education lacks this element of “turning around” of the soul. Schools today tend to merely dump knowledge and information, rather than train individuals to reflect and think critically. Students are not trained to contemplate on “the good,” rather they are allowed to live their lives with untamed passions. Instead of wise and virtuous individuals, most students today are lovers of wealth, pleasure, vanity, and convenience.

Although the original legend preceded Lucius Apuleius’ work, the Latin writer and Platonic thinker re-elaborated the Hellenic story of Eros and Psyche in his novel “The Golden Ass”, as a philosophical apologue and a legacy of Classical civilization. In this paper, we survey some relevant artistic and literary interpretations, from ancient to modern times, in order to verify a hypothesis: that such a myth worked as a “psychological” hinge between Antiquity and Modernity, even more than between Antiquity and Middle Ages.

The appropriation of the term eros by Plato in the Symposium culminates in Socrates'/Diotima's speech. However there is a more specifi c sense of eros, which could be called philosophical eros. On the one hand, philosophical eros is the immediate consequence of the development of the dynamis by which one is capable of recognizing both the existence and the value of the Forms. On the other hand, the development of this same dynamis promotes the desire to transmit this dynamis to those regarded as a fertile ground to it. Understanding this twofold dimension of philosophical eros will shed light both on Plato's conception of philosophy and on Socrates, character of Plato's dialogues, as lover of beautiful boys.

Dionysian Mysteries , 2020

The role of Socrates with Adeimantus in Plato's Republic along with a short analysis of the story of the Cave. The sixth century Platonist Dionysius the Areopagite uses a method of affirmation and denial which is the same method Plato uses in the Parmenides however he brings to this method his own stamp of interesting originality. From reading his works I realised that this method helps understand the whole of Plato's philosophy in two simple terms. The method is called cataphatic theology and apophatic philosophy which can be compared with each section of the divided line. Cataphatic theology is the affirmation of speech-which is classed as progression. The opinion and belief side of the divided line. Apophatic philosophy is the subsequent denial of speech-classed as reformation. The noumenal side of the divided line. The etymology of the two words, in both cases φάναι phanai means to speak, the "Apo" comes from apophēmi, meaning "to deny" and the "cata" coming from κατά kata to intensify which is to increase multiply and generate hence progression. This is the first theme we are going to examine; the second theme is the allegory of the cave. All of us even the cave dwellers are looking for the good, so when I first became seriously interest in philosophy, I thought the study of Plato was for University intellectuals and thus I spent my spare time learning the theories of the Eastern spiritual philosophies. Eventually I risked reading a copy of the Lobe translation of the Timaeus, which I confess proved my initial thoughts correct, I did not understand a single line and I could not even attempt to read the pages on the left-hand side.

We inept ones admire too much certain very insignificant things … but blind and ungrateful, we have long since stopped admiring the very great things we used to respect. … let us move forth into the light with the fortunate inspiration of goodness itself, that is God on high (Voss, 2006: 190,210). In this consideration of Plato's allegory of the cave, from Book VII of The Republic, I will argue that it remains as relevant for today's world as it has done ever since it was first written.

Religions, 2022

This paper puts forward a mystical reading of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave by comparing it with some allegories from Sufi literature, Islamic mystical tradition. The paper argues that the determining parts of the allegory, such as escaping the cave as the world of shadows; seeing the sun/truth and becoming a philosopher; and the necessity of returning to the cave, have significant similarities to what Sufis have said about their mystical experience and spiritual enlightenment. The paper compares the Allegory of the Cave with some similar allegories in Sufi literature, focusing on the allegories of prison, hunting the shadows of a flying bird, dying before dying, and the elephant in the dark Room in Rumi’s works. After an introduction to the reception of Plato in the Islamic intellectual tradition and different interpretations of the Allegory of the Cave, this paper discusses four similarities between these allegories. Finally, the paper supports the mystical reading of Plato’s Cave by using Pierre Hadot’s thesis on Philosophy as a Way of Life, which challenges the sharp dichotomy of philosophy and mysticism in mainstream intellectual historiography. Keywords: Plato’s cave; Rumi’s prison; the allegory of dying before dying; the allegory of hunting the shadows of a flying bird; Pierre Hadot

Creative Education, 2017

The research observes thinking processes of students undergoing training to become teachers. It focused on their interpretations which provide a new approach to the ancient text "The Allegory of the Cave" in Plato's Politeia (The Republic). These processes enable students to reach insights concerning the characteristics of the educator's challenges of the 21 st century. This article is based on a thorough observation of discussions in an online forum (in a Moodle environment), accompanied a lesson entitled "Introduction to philosophy of education on the timeline" that took place during the academic years 2014, 2015, 2016. In this assay we demonstrate how a discussion mediated through an online discourse explores the process of knowledge construction, collaborative learning and constructivist dialog. This is with reference to the tension between the ancient and the modern, the past and the future, tension which its intensity increases in reality changes in accelerated pace.

of truth-telling about that which one most fears to speak-affects the landscape of one's emotions and desires. How such acts of confession affect emotions and desires depends on where and to whom such a confession is spoken. The kind of effect confession will have on emotions and desires is determined, in part, by the identity of the listener (or the absence of one). Thus, the listener is not neutral in such acts of confession but assumes, de facto, a symbolic or iconic mediating role. I explore this relationship between confession and desire through an analysis of the Sacrament of Confession and in conversation with Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, Charles Taylor, and Martha Nussbaum. I suggest an alternative understanding of the Sacrament of Confession that defines the Sacrament not in juridical terms but as an event whose purpose is to increase one's desire for God. Although I affirm the constitutive role of language and interpretation on desires and emotions, I argue that Taylor and Nussbaum give insufficient attention to how desire affects interpretation and to how the particular ¡conic role of the listener affects how confession affects emotions and desires.

Caves and the Ancient Greek Mind analyses techniques of searching for ultimate wisdom in ancient Greece. The Greeks perceived mental experiences of exceptional intensity as resulting from divine intervention. They believed that to share in the immortals' knowledge, one had to liberate the soul from the burden of the mortal body by attaining an altered state of consciousness, that is, by merging with a superhuman being or through possession by a deity. These states were often attained by inspired mediums, `impresarios of the gods' - prophets, poets, and sages - who descended into caves or underground chambers. Yulia Ustinova juxtaposes ancient testimonies with the results of modern neuropsychological research. This novel approach enables an examination of religious phenomena not only from the outside, but also from the inside: it penetrates the consciousness of people who were engaged in the vision quest, and demonstrates that the darkness of the caves provided conditions vital for their activities.

Ideas y Valores, 2017

Abstract: In this paper I claim that Plato’s Cave is fundamentally a political, not an epistemological image, and that only by treating it as such can we appreciate correctly its relation to the images of the Sun and the Line. On the basis of textual evidence, I question the two main assumptions that support (in my view, mistakenly) the effort to find an epistemological parallel between the Cave and the Line: first, that the prisoners represent humankind in general, and, second, that the cave itself represents the visible world of ordinary experience while the world outside the cave represents the realm of the Forms. Disrupting these assumptions opens up a reading that highlights the cultural and political themes at play in this famous allegory and allows us to make better sense of it. Keywords: Plato, Cave, Politics, Culture Resumen: En este ensayo sostengo que la Caverna de Platón es fundamentalmente una alegoría política, no epistemológica, y que solo tratándola como tal, podremos apreciar correctamente la relación que guarda con las imágenes del Sol y de la Línea. Sobre la base de evidencia textual, pongo en duda las dos hipótesis principales sobres las que se funda (a mi parecer, equivocadamente) el esfuerzo por encontrar un paralelo epistemológico entre la Caverna y la Línea: la primera, que los prisioneros representan a la humanidad en general, y la segunda, que la propia caverna representa el mundo visible de la experiencia corriente, mientras que el mundo fuera de la caverna representa el reino de las Ideas. La suspensión de estos supuestos posibilita una lectura que pone de relieve los temas culturales y políticos que están en juego en esta famosa alegoría y nos permite así entenderla mejor. Palabras Clave: Platón, Caverna, Política, Cultura

Classical World, 2011