Plato's Allegory of the cave
(a story, poem, or picture that can contain a hidden meaning, or a moral, or a political lesson)
- Ideal society: by examining concepts like justice, truth, and beauty
- They identify things they see without actually seeing them
- When one prisoner is free and outside, the sunlight hurts his eyes and he finds the new environment disorienting
- The sun ends up being the ultimate source of everything he has seen
- The other prisoners don't believe him, call him stupid, and won't let him set them free
- Most people are not just comfortable in their ignorance but hostile to anyone who points it out
Plato: no to Athenian democracy; yes to philosopher kings
- Things in the physical world are flawed reflections of ideal forms
- For theologians, the ideal forms exist in the mind of a creator
- People still wonder if the things outside the cave are anymore real than the shadows
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