Socrates And Glaucon Discuss Plato’s Cave Allegory

Socrates: “Why do people think philosophy is bullshit? Let me put it this way – imagine you’re in a cave, all chained up so you can’t turn your body at all, and all you get to look at is this one wall. Some idiots behind you are making shadow puppets using the light from a fire and making echo noises and that’s all you or anyone else chained up has seen or heard all your life. Sounds terrible, right? Except it’s all you’ve ever known, shadows and echoes, and that’s your whole world – there’s no way you could know that, really, you’re watching a slightly-improved M. Night Shyamalan film.

“In fact, you get pretty good at understanding how the patterns in the show work, and everyone else chained up is like, ‘Holy shit bro, how did you know that that tree was going to fall on that guy?’ and you’re like, ‘It’s because I pay attention and I’m smart as shit.’ You’re the smartest of the chained, and they all revere you.”

Glaucon: “But Socrates, a tree didn’t really hit a guy. It’s all shadows.”

Socrates: “Cool, Glaucon, but you don’t know that. You think the shadows are real things. Everyone does. Now shut up and let me finish.

“So eventually, someone comes and unchains you and drags you out of the cave. At first you’d say, ‘Seriously, what the **** is going on?!’ Well, actually, at first you’d say, ‘HOLY SHIT MY EYES’ and you’d want to go back to the safe, familiar shadows. But even once your eyes worked you wouldn’t believe them, because everything you ever thought was real is gone. You’d look at a tree, and say ‘That’s not a tree. I know trees. And you, sir, are no tree. THAT DOWN THERE is a tree.’ But you’re wrong. Down there is a shadow of a tree.

“Slowly, as your eyes got better, you’d see more and more stuff. Eventually, you’d see the sun, and realize that it’s the source of all light. You can’t see nothing without the sun. And eventually, you’d figure it out. Something would click in your brain: ‘oh, shit, that IS a tree. So… nothing in the cave was real? I feel like such a dork.’ But it’s not your fault, so don’t be so hard on yourself.

“Finally you’d want to go down and tell everyone about everything you’ve discovered. Except, and here’s the hilarious part, they think you’ve gone crazy. You’d say, ‘Guys, real trees are green!’ and they’d say, ‘What the hec is green? THAT is a tree over there.’ And you’d squint and look at the wall, but you know you’re done for because now you’re used to having sunlight, and now you can’t see nothing. So they’d laugh at you, and agree that wherever it was that you went, no one should go there because it turns people into idiots.

“Philosophy, same thing. The soul ascends and apprehends the forms, the nature of everything, and eventually the very Idea of Good that gives light to everything else. And then the philosopher has to go back to the cave and try to explain it to people who don’t even know what Green is, to say nothing of the Good. But the philosopher didn’t make up the Good, it was always there, and the only way to really make sense of it is to uncover it for yourself. You can’t force knowledge into a dumbass any more than you can force sight into a blind man.

“So if you want to learn, be prepared for a difficult journey, and be prepared to make some mistakes. That’s okay, it’s all part of the process. True knowledge must be obtained the hard way, and some people just don’t want to see the light.”