Introduction
The Allegory of the Cave is the cornerstone of objective idealism, illustrating the world of things and the world of ideas. Many researchers rightly consider the Allegory of the Cave to be Plato’s central conversation (within the great dialogue of the State) and one of the primary texts in the course of Platonism. Subsequently, the sayings from this text formed the basis of Neoplatonism, religious idealism. Modern European philosophy (René Descartes, John Locke, and Francis Bacon) became a rationalist successor, developing the teachings of Plato and bringing it closer to what most people still understand as rigorous science. However, thorough science is not the only area of application of Plato’s philosophy. Being connected with the problem of state structure and politics by Plato, the allegory has become an essential part of the political theory and the management of public opinion. At the moment, the Allegory of the Cave does not lose its relevance and can be considered together with the problem of social networks, ideology, communication, media, existential fears, and ethical aspects.
The Context
The Allegory of the Cave is the short part of a conversation, classical in its form, between Socrates and Glaucon, Plato’s brother. In this dialogue, by voicing question after question, Socrates explains the Platonic views regarding the inaccessibility of the world of ideas. This method of Socrates later became the center not only of philosophical discussion as a phenomenon but also of education, and it is called maieutics.
The Allegory of the Cave can be considered both politically and epistemologically since Socrates and Glaucon delineate what is being discussed so that reinterpretations are possible. In addition, in this part, it is especially noticeable how Plato opposes the culture of the theater, associating it with illusions and deceit (Zamosc 239-240). The meaning of the allegory looks like this: in a dark cave, several enslaved people are squeezed by shackles so they cannot raise their heads. The bright bonfire is a constant illumination for them, and they see free people carrying objects outside the cave. Enslaved people do not see things, but only their shadows are displayed on the cave’s walls under the fire’s light. They examine them, discuss them, and try to guess what exactly they shade.
As a result, the enslaved people give names to the shadows they see and take them for granted. Suddenly, if one of the enslaved people is at the cave’s exit and realizes how wrong he and his comrades are, he refuses to believe it. The strength of the illusion and the tranquility generated by this illusion conquers the thirst for truth. Having examined all the objects, the enslaved person wants to return to the cave since what he saw destroys his usual way of consciousness and understanding of the world. Thus, Plato describes what Gilles Deleuze would later call epistemological parallelism (Zamosc 257-258). It means that in the process of cognition, a person is faced not just with the object of awareness but always with its two reflections: illusory (directly given in the senses) and genuine.
Social Networks
Social networks form information bubbles around people, representing the very shadows that the enslaved people saw on the walls of the cave. Social networks have a significant impact on the psyche of people and their self-esteem and can sometimes cause self-harm or push a person to attempt suicide. Creating an image on social networks is a project that sometimes has nothing to do with reality.
Building an opinion about a person or a group of people, taking into account only their images on social networks, is a fatal mistake. Subscribers and casual onlookers who see famous personalities and their photos do not know how much retouching is superimposed on the body or face of a person. They do not know if an expensive car or house was borrowed, rented, or gifted by a stroke of luck. Some social network initiatives show the exact amount of retouching or no retouching to break these shadows and bring people closer to the world.
Some famous people decide to support these initiatives and notorious insecure people. They exhibit their photos without makeup and retouching, showing that they do not want to give the audience and fans the wrong idea about their appearance, behavior, and lifestyle (Peterson). Vogue (fashion magazine) invites famous women, who have become the ideals of beauty for generations, to tell and show on camera how to apply makeup and take care of their skin and appearance. Thus, the myth of the permanent beauty of celebrities without flaws is debunked.
Ideology and Official Propaganda
The political cut of the problem of the dark cave opens up to readers the problem of managing the masses and, in general, the state machine. Plato pays much attention here to philosophers since it is they who, using the maieutic method, can approach the world of ideas, unlike ordinary people. Accordingly, the management of the state and many people’s lives is also assigned to philosophers who can become, if not rulers directly, at least advisers.
The creation of an ideology in the state is one example of shadows from the cave. Ordinary citizens, deprived of the opportunity to use philosophy and the Socratic method, are forced to take on faith in the stated ideology (Zamosc). They do not doubt, do not ask questions, but only accept the information submitted and discuss it among themselves. Here, it is appropriate to mention the exit from the cave and the collision with natural objects, with their color, shape, smell, and volume. Ideology and political propaganda are capable of deforming the consciousness of people who are used to consuming similar information in such a way that a collision with reality on the other side of the television screen becomes a shock and a severe psychological shock for them. Essential ethical and political aspects of people’s lives, such as justice, are tied to ideology and propaganda. For many people, the loss of righteousness in life can mean a loss of meaning.
Communication Issues: Argumentation, Debate, and Questioning
Socrates demonstrates excellent discussion and argumentation skills during the depiction of the allegory. The meaning of the allegory leads readers to think that, realizing the parallelism of epistemological truths, one can work on one’s arguments and take the place of an interlocutor or opponent. In any productive dialogue, it is vital to take the location of the interlocutor to understand the course of his thoughts and motivation and, possibly, look out for fallacies in his reasoning. All errors in argumentation are caused by listening to the very shadows described by Socrates. One can sometimes draw parallels in this regard with the idols of Francis Bacon, which people also perceive blindly. Awareness and recognition of the presence of shadows become a significant step towards finding the truth (Peterson). The enslaved people in the cave did not realize that they saw only shadows, but upon learning, they refused to believe in it and rejected this thought.
Media
Like social networks, large-scale media resources now have unprecedented power, forming unique information bubbles around different readers. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that readers are interested in this or that news in the cave analogy, where they are not dealing with direct information, people, or knowledge. Perhaps the fruits of the media in this respect can be called simulations in the manner of Jean Baudrillard (Peterson). It is especially true of news about wars, third-world countries, and catastrophes that claimed many people’s lives. The way the media give information is nothing more than an echo of a real-life problem or situation. It is essential to be critical of any news people read and not take on faith that raises even the slightest doubt. Doubt, in general, can be a fundamental key to consuming adequate information and avoiding illusions.
Fear of Losing the Illusion
According to the plot of the allegory, the enslaved people experience horror after realizing that what they have seen for a long time does not reflect reality. Others, who preferred not to leave the cave, did not believe their comrades and brushed them off. It has an existential aspect of fear, bordering on horror, breaking the whole worldview, and a psychological one. In this plot, enslaved people use the most straightforward psychological protection mechanism from shocks and adaptation (Zamosc). For many people, it is preferable to remain in the dark or use a limited number of resources to learn about the world around us, that is, to receive information in fragments. Philosophers, therefore, are not only people who learn about the world of ideas with great success but also brave men who boldly look into the eyes of this unknown world. Philosophers are not afraid to shake their worldview and experience a shock that destroys their previous views, to which they have been moving for a long time.
Ethical Aspect: The Category of Good
The category of goodness is undeservedly forgotten in the allegory, but Plato was probably aiming at it when he composed the narrative. The idea of the good is central to philosophers who are to rule in an ideal city. This ethical category is next to the justice category, according to which relations should be built in a perfect state. According to Plato, the ideas of the good are most challenging to achieve, although the whole approach to the world of ideas is a series of difficult trials. People are faced not with the concept of goodness in life but only with its manifestations (Peterson). The idea of the good, therefore, it seems to Plato, is unattainable; only the philosophers closest to it, who have long gone beyond contemplating shadows, can live in glory and luxury, ruling the city.
Conclusion
The Allegory of the Cave remains relevant to this day; readers can see it in the problem of social networks, ideology, argumentation, media, fear, and ethics. Social networks and the media form around people in that very dark cave where there are no objects, only their shadows, which the enslaved people are forced to consider and discuss. Ideology also prevents people from realizing reality and building their model of actions by it. Being aware of the presence of shadows or idols (according to Francis Bacon), one can successfully defend one’s position in the discussion through questioning and clear argumentation. People face fear, as Plato showed, by losing their illusions, and therefore they usually prefer to remain in ignorance. In addition, the considered allegory demonstrates the ethical cross-section of the category of good as one of the most challenging ideas in the world to achieve.
Works Cited
Peterson, Valerie V. “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: Literacy And ‘The Good.’” Review of Communication, vol. 17, no. 4, 2017, pp. 273–87. Crossref.
Zamosc, Gabriel. “The Political Significance of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.” Ideas y Valores, vol. 66, no. 165, 2017, pp. 237–65. Crossref.