Current politics, government decisions, and media communication are based on the views and opinions of those who should be at the edge of intellectual and strategic knowledge. Nowadays, different people criticize authorities and communication channels for being biased or one-sided. One might say that this is not the first time the state of affairs seems controversial; instead, it happens through centuries and has been reflected in ancient thinkers’ philosophical works. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is among such treatises that emphasized the essence of seeing illusion presented by others in contrast to seeing real things, which helps understand the truth. This paper will analyze contemporary politics, freedoms, and other influential states’ issues reflected through Plato’s philosophical perspective described in The Allegory of the Cave.
According to Plato, the world is presented to each person in his or her way, and the majority of people in the cave “have been in this dwelling since childhood, shackled by the legs and neck. Thus they stay in the same place…” (Plato 2). Such a situation in the cave does not allow people to look for the essence of things, and most people live in a world of relative ignorance. This ignorance is convenient for political leaders and governments of different states who use their perspective to convince people to work blindly for common welfare while discriminating against people and enriching at the expense of ordinary citizens, which happens in North Korea, China, and Russia. Plato illustrates this by stating that leaders use “the low curtain that puppeteers put up, over which they show their puppets” (Plato 2).
At present, the allegory’s political aspect is reinforced by the role that media have that can easily manipulate data and news, contribute to the blindness of the men, and impact citizens’ views. Such miscommunication helps political leaders to convince people to choose them and react violently to those who, as in the allegory, try to free us and show us the true essence of things. An example of such politics could see when government and the President Trump decide to build walls on the borders of the US with another country and tried to influence the recent elections by provoking violence and defending behavior in people. Another example is when Israel tore up relationships with Arab countries, including UAE, due to Islamism and the necessity to oppose Arab states that support Palestine.
The Allegory of the Cave begins with a conversation about how a person needs to educate himself to get closer to the truth. This need is not limited to education but also involves returning to the cave, as the prisoner did, to guide his companions to the highest levels of knowledge. Plato firmly believes that the people’s government should be temporary, alternating, and exclusive to those who have the most access to the intelligible world, and not only in the shadow of things as others used to be. In contrast, those leaders in different states in Africa and Eastern Europe, who use repressions, media manipulation, and other resources to remain in power, inevitably lose the truth.
According to Plato, the truth is not available to many; there will be outstanding people who might come out of the cave, get knowledge, and clearly see reality. At the same time, it is highlighted that “whenever any of them (prisoners) was unchained and was forced to stand up suddenly… to look up toward the light, in each case the person would be able to do this only with pain” (Plato 3). This idea reflects the beginnings of totalitarianism and exploitation for the sake of a higher goal, which is continuously used by autocratic governments who threaten people and use them to strengthen the state. Moreover, such leaders control the flow of information and eliminate criticism to shape the reality for contemporary prisoners in caves across the world.
In The Allegory of the Cave, Plato notes the gradual process of accepting the truth. Plato suggests the following: “in this process of acclimatization he would first and most easily be able to look at (1) shadows and after that (2) the images of people and the rest of things as they are reflected in water” (Plato 4). Further, “he might well contemplate what there is in the heavenly dome… more easily during the night by looking at the light of the stars…than by looking at the sun and its glare during the day” (Plato 4).
The result of the realization of the truth will be beneficial for a person who can see real things; Plato conveys that “he would consider himself lucky because of the transformation that had happened and, by contrast, feel sorry for them,” namely for others in the cave, prisoners who can see only shadows (Plato 5). The same gradual reformation of political organizations and states could be noticed through history when tyranny led to revolution and was reborn in the forms of democracy or socialism due to people who saw reality clearly and were able to resist the existing state.
To make a conclusion, one can state that The Allegory of the Cave can always be applied and that its timelessness makes it valid even today. Plato emphasizes the necessity to realize that darkness and shadows must be left behind in favor of existing ideas and things, even if it would be a difficult path to the truth. The need for education, reflection, and freedom, reinforced in The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, is what might trigger the masses to resist authorities and drive changes along their way to establish real forms of state, and will be relevant and modern for countries and influential groups throughout the centuries.
Reference
Plato. The Allegory of the Cave. Stanford University. n.d. Web.