PLATO
PLATO
Rewind
to 2400 years ago, there was a man, whom we today know as the Greek philosopher
Plato, who understood humans very deeply. He knew that all human beings are
averse to change. He knew that human beings are comfortable living a known,
shallow life. He knew that they believed in and were so dependent on the norms
and ethics of the society that they would never be able to survive without
them. So, even if at some level they felt that the norms were not in accordance
to what they believed in, they never questioned them. Through allegory of the
cave symbolism, Plato brings to light all these traits of human nature i.e.
walking a known path rather than leading a life full of obstacles and
challenges to find the "real truth". To simplify this philosophy
topic, given below, in short, is the summary of the allegory of the cave.
Understanding Allegory of the Cave Humans are Prisoners in a Cave According to
Plato's allegory of the cave, the way we perceive things around us and the way
we lead our lives, is actually not the "truth". We human beings are
leading ignorant, incomplete lives, following the paths, rules, norms, ethics,
set by the previous generations, without questioning them. Plato brings up this
plight of humans by depicting them as prisoners in a cave. These prisoners are
sitting facing a wall, tied in chains, with a fire between them and the wall,
which makes shadows on the wall. The prisoners mistakenly think that these
shadows on the walls are the "reality", cause that is what the fellow
prisoners or the ones before them conveyed. Questioner Escapes to Explore the
"Truth" Generations come and generations go and the prisoners lead
the same unaware and ignorant lives in the dark caves, until one of the
prisoners starts questioning. This prisoner breaks the chains that bind him and
in order to know the real truth, escapes the caves into the unknown world. In
the outside world, this questioner faces lots of challenges as he is not used
to the sunlight, to the presence of nature and all its elements around him. The
questioner, in spite of these obstacles, starts exploring this new world to
seek reality. He treads on a lonely, unknown path to discover the truth, but
does not give up his questioning spirit. Philosopher Returns to Guide At some
point, this questioner, thinks of going back to the caves to tell the other
prisoners about the reality. To tell them that there is a beautiful world out
there, waiting for them, and that there is more to life than just the cave and
its "imaginary reality" as depicted by the shadows. When the
questioner, now a philosopher, shares this newfound knowledge with the other
captives of the cave, he is met with disbelief. People think of him as a pariah
who should be removed from the society, to preserve its belief systems. People
are averse to any kind of change, which the philosopher tries to bring about
with his knowledge of the real truth, as they have become used to and dependent
on the norms and ethics, handed over to them by their predecessors. Through
this, one can conclude that most of the human beings would rather live a
comfortable, happy and familiar life, than a life full of challenges and pain,
which would ultimately lead them to the "larger truths of life". Most
human beings are contended with the "consensus reality", i.e. the
reality agreed by all, even if it is as imaginary and as unreal as the shadows
on the walls of the cave. Humans are contended that they have the security of a
family, of a society, of religion around them. However, according to Plato,
there will come one questioner, one philosopher, from time to time, who will
critically look at himself and the world around him, who will wonder why things
are the way they are and then will make his own decisions regarding how things
should be.