Introduction
In analyzing Plato’s allegory, what is of paramount importance is the philosopher’s theory of knowledge. That is, whether what we purport to know and accordingly assign names to, are real objects or mere forms of reality. In the allegory of the cave, Plato presents a scenario where human beings are tightly chained that they are unable to turn their heads around and are dumped in a dark cave with only source of lighting from the cave’s opening.
Fire is kept blazing above and behind them; in between the hostages and the fire, there is a raised way and a long wall on which puppeteers show their puppets (Plato, para. 1). The hostages thus see the images of these puppets on the wall as people, animals, and objects and that of themselves cast by the fire. Talking amongst themselves, Plato supposes that the hostages use language to name the shadows that they see cast on the wall and they are convinced that the shadows are real objects.
However, after their release, they are blinded by the immensity of light outside the cave so much so that they encounter difficulties to change their mindset about reality hence preferring to get back to the cave. This paper attempts to establish the veracity of Plato’s claim that appearance is not reality and that what people call reality are shadows of real objects.
Appearance and Reality
Plato’s contention was the gross ignorance displayed by the hostages through naming the shadows of themselves and of marionettes cast on the wall as though they were real objects. Having been held hostage since their childhood, the prisoners had not been exposed to real objects that they purported to name. Plato, in line with his theory of knowledge, managed to some extent, to argue out the pertinence of his theory.
Put in such a condition, one would be at difficulties to discern whether what one sees are images of real objects or are real objects in themselves. In life, it is always easy to lapse into this trap of equating appearance with reality. For instance, people who are colorblind often mistake one color for another, maroon for red, or pink for red. Similarly, a desert mirage can be mistaken for a water body from a distance but in reality is a bare desert. Plato therefore was not far from the truth surrounding the existence of things.
Plato had discovered this mishap and endeavored to bring it to our consciousness through his allegory. He argued that it was foolhardy for the hostages to assign names of real objects to the images that they saw cast on the wall. Eventually, the hostages were unfettered and they realized, perhaps to their amazement, that what they thought were real objects and accordingly assigned names to, were just but images/shadows.
The puppets were statues of real animals and people, and the shadows were of their own! If, for example, they gave a name ‘donkey’ to a statue resembling a donkey, what name would they ascribe to the real donkey? Definitely, it would be utter embarrassment for them and they would retreat to the cave where they are complacent with what they know, however skewed.
In most cases, people get very uncomfortable when their mindset is challenged. A case in point is the historical Copernican revolution that posited that it is the earth that goes around the sun, not vice verse as upheld by the Church. Copernicus was blinded by this ‘Platonic light’ and retreated to the Church’s position until Galilei Galileo challenged it finally (Kuhn and Copernicus 34).
Nevertheless, as Aristotle would say, there are no shadows without real objects. That is, Plato abstracted his ideas from the real things, hence shadows point to reality – appearance is harbinger of reality (Heidegger 5). By dismissing the shadows and images in toto, as espoused by the hostages as reality, Plato missed the point owing to the heralding concept of appearance.
To get ideas that are universal, immutable, infinite, et cetera; particular, mutable, finite objects must be used as sources of abstraction. The hostages in the allegory were not misguided, after all, by the images/shadows that they saw for they gave them a glimpse of reality. When in ordinary circumstances, a person sees an image of an object, say of a Military Drone fighter jet; s/he will have a modicum of knowledge about the real object because it is its replica, albeit a miniaturized or enlarged version.
Another critique that can be made with regard to Plato’s allegory and concept of appearance and reality is his arrival at the names of real objects yet the hostages had been in the cave since childhood. Plato imposes these names on his hostages as though they had experience some clairvoyance.
Plato, consequently, fails to acknowledge the concept of a priori knowledge that is independent of corporeal objects, something that is evident in the hostages’ repository of knowledge. In order for a person to know anything without the influence of the phenomenon, a priori knowledge is necessary and Plato only concentrated on a posteriori concept of knowledge. Therefore, he failed tremendously to deliver a conclusive writ on the acquisition of true knowledge (reality) as opposed to illusions of reality (shadows/images).
Conclusion
Plato’s allegory endeavors to categorically dichotomize appearance from reality. Arguments have been advanced on this course such as the biological phenomenon of color blindness, the mirage effect, and most forcibly the Copernican revolution and Galileo’s excommunication from the Church for asserting the new paradigm that hitherto eluded it.
Nevertheless, some rebuttals have been equally advanced against Plato’s standpoint regarding the allegory. For example, Aristotle founded the realist school by arguing that Plato did abstract his ‘forms’ or ideas from the existing objects. This can be construed to mean that these forms, as were seen by the hostages, point to the reality and are a basis of knowledge for those encountering them for the first time.
Works Cited
Heidegger, Martin. Phenomenological interpretations of Aristotle: initiation into phenomenological research. Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press, 2001.
Kuhn Thomas and Copernicus Nicolaus. The Copernican revolution: planetary astronomy in the development of Western thought. New York, NY: Harvard University Press, 1957.
Plato, “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave” From Plato’s “Republic, Book VII, 514a-c to 521a-e. 2011. Web.