Plato’s Cave
HMXP102
Prof. Oakes
Winthrop University

Section I:  Self-Study
Central Question:  What do we know about ourselves and what can we know?

Plato:  The Allegory of the Cave, HMXP reader, pp. 3-6

Study Questions
1.	Why does Plato represent ordinary human knowledge as analogous to the state of the cave-dwellers?
2.	What is Plato saying about the capacity of humans to know reality by means of sensation?  What are some common ways in which we are misled about the true nature of reality?
3.	By what means does Plato think that we can come to know reality?  What is the “knowable realm,” for Plato?
4.	Is it possible to know the true nature of anything?
5.	Why does Plato suggest that those with true, rational understanding of reality may not be well received by their society?  To what extent, if any, is this true today?

Did You Know?
Plato lived in Athens, Greece, from 428 to 347BCE.  He wrote in dialogue form, placing his contemporaries in his dialogues as characters expressing philosophical ideas, both his and others’.  His cave allegory is among the most famous ideas in western civilization.
Our text is a portion of a longer dialogue, a conversation Plato imagines occurring between Socrates and some friends.  Socrates is the main speaker (speaking in first person), Glaucon is his interlocutor.  The overall conversation is about Justice and the best possible form of government.  At this point, in the discussion, they have reached the subject of truth and reality in general, and our access to it.

For a graphical representation of the Cave, see http://faculty.winthrop.edu/oakesm/HMXP102/Plato_Cave/Platocave.JPG.  Have this at hand while you read.

Main Points  (further information about each, below)
1.	Appearance and Reality are distinct (not the same one thing).
2.	Reality consists in eternal, unchanging, ideal forms.
3.	Reason, not sense, is the faculty of human knowledge of reality.
4.	Knowledge of reality is both individually and socially challenging.

1.  Appearance and Reality
-	According to Plato, what we experience via the senses – appearance – is not the same thing as what is real.
-	For example, while we can draw a fairly accurate triangle, we know that no physical triangle meets exactly the formulae defining triangles, such as:  area = ½(base)x(height).
-	What are some other examples in which appearance and reality differ?
-	For some images representing the appearance/reality distinction, see here:  http://faculty.winthrop.edu/oakesm/HMXP102/Plato_Cave/Plato_Cave.htm.

2.  Ideal Forms
-	Plato thought that the world experienced in sense is but an appearance and that the real world consists in Ideal Forms.
-	‘Ideal’ is meant in two senses:  “perfect” and “idea-like”.
-	Among the Forms are such things as beauty, justice, and goodness, as well as numbers and geometrical shapes.  Perhaps there are also Forms defining the perfect Human, the perfect mouse, the perfect hammock, water, etc.
-	As ideas, the forms don’t change, according to Plato, and don’t exist in space or time, are immaterial, and thus cannot be sensed.  The material objects of space and time “participate”, imperfectly, in them.

3.  Reason
-	For Plato, it is by Reason that we access reality, not by sense.
-	While the senses are vivid, it is reason that comes to understand what the senses represent to us.
-	In addition to the triangle example above, notice that we now understand green in terms of wavelengths of reflected light, where wavelengths of light are not something that we see, but that we describe in numerical terms.  (The wavelength of green light is about 510 nanometers.)  The quantified world of science is a modern-day instance of the replacement of the qualitative, sensory world with a “true” world of knowledge.  The quantified is grasped by the rational intellect, not by sense, on Plato’s view.
-	Think about the extent to which we understand the sensory world in terms of things that only reason can grasp.

4.  Knowledge of reality is both individually and socially challenging.
-	Knowing true reality is a challenge for any given individual for a number of reasons, including these:
o	sensation is vivid and compelling;
o	the objects of reason are not open to sense;
o	since they are not open to sense, the objects of reason are capable of misapprehension or ignorance (compare Socrates’ views on our knowledge of moral truth);
o	the process of learning by reason takes time and effort;
o	where we are comfortable with the relatively easily acquired sensory beliefs, we may resist the effort to acquire rational beliefs, or even fear such efforts.
-	Knowledge of reality is a social challenge for several reasons, as well:
o	in general, the problems of individual knowing are magnified at the societal level;
o	where we are generally inclined to believe our senses, this creates considerable “social inertia” against rational belief;
o	challenges to widely held belief may be threatening to many, prompting considerable resistance;
o	in larger groups, the “lowest common denominator” to which all can agree is likely to be appearance;
o	etc.

Plato and Self-Study
-	Knowledge of the self – acquired by self-study – is the central theme of this course.  So, we should ask, what is the significance in Plato’s claims for knowledge of the self?
-	Ask yourself these questions:
o	Are there ways in which the self appears to you that do not reflect reality?
o	Are there “eternal forms” of human being – unchanging principles defining us?
o	What can we learn about the self by use of reason that may not otherwise be known by us?
o	To what extent do you or others resist rational knowledge of reality?
-	Think about beginning the process of self-study as if you yourself were a prisoner in Plato’s cave.