Plato's Allegory of the Cave: Part Three

In the final section, Plato finalises:

• The importance of the dialectic when pursuing the truth

• Characteristics of the ideal ruler

• The process of securing this ruler and the perfect constitution

Before we continue, let’s establish the meaning of the dialectic, and how Plato uses the term.

We can think of the dialectic as a healthy debate, but one which is formed through arguments of logic and reason. Two people, or a group, can engage in the discussion, and their goal is to establish the truth about the subject. The discussion, however, excludes emotional impacts such as public appeal.

Socratic dialogue is a particular type of dialectic, known as the method of elenchus, which literally means ‘scrutiny’. Plato’s character of Socrates almost adopts a heroic, impenetrable persona, a mirrored view of Plato’s high regard for his former tutor. He is engaged with a contemporary whom holds a vague belief which Socrates opposes, and after making precise and detailed arguments, the original statement is withdrawn and Socrates wins the agreement of his peer. The stages of the dialect are as follows:

• Targets a false thesis given by a contemporary.

• Establishes an agreement with the contemporary.

• Questions the contemporary, whom eventually agrees that Socrates’s thesis has disproved the former.

• A conclusion is reached, Socrates’s thesis is true, the original is false.

This method is presented throughout many Plato’s Socratic dialogues.

Now, let’s continue with part three. Click here for parts one and two.

Continue with the Allegory

The Hymn of Dialectic

Plato believes that when all four of the studies discussed in part two are unified, then the “pursuit of them will have a value”, as stated by Socrates. Otherwise, none of them have any point to them, and learning them is an meaningless as using knowledge or negative gain, rather than achieving the good. But Socrates and Glaucon need to establish why these four branches of study are so crucial for the future governors to learn, and why learning this set of skills is a necessity for the student to be capable of the dialectic, and thus ruling the State.

Socrates questions Glaucon on his opinion of a skilled mathematician, to which Glaucon responds, “I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning”. This implies that mathematicians are too “lost” to function their reason, losing sight of the ultimate goal just as astronomers who look at the sky instead of the ground. They have become distracted.

The dialectic is of “intellect only”. It cannot be perceived by sight, for sight was “imagined by us after a while to behold the real animals and stars”, say Socrates, “and last of all the sun himself”.

“When a person starts on the discovery of the absolute by the light of reason only, and without any assistance of sense, and preserves until by pure intelligence, he arrives at the perception of the absolute good, he at last finds himself at the end of the intellectual world, as in the case of sight at the end of the visible”

This process, says Glaucon, is what he would call the dialectic. The dialectic cannot be obtained empirically, it is wholly rational, concerned with logical argument. To find the true good, all of our senses must be abandoned, and our intelligence alone exercised. This good lies at the end of the intellectual world; the ultimate goal of our philosopher. It impacts everything, and most importantly, our virtues of justice. Socrates continues to explain:

“...But the release of prisoners from chains, and their translation from the shadows to the images and to the light, and the ascent from the underground den to the sun, which in his presence they are vainly trying to look plants and animals and the light of the sun, but are able to perceive even with their weak eyes the images in the water (which are divine) and are the shadows of true existence (not shadows of images cast by the light of the fire, which compared with the sun is only an image) - this power of elevating the highest principle in the soul to the contemplation of that which is best in existence, with which we may compare the raising of that faculty which is the very light of the body to the sight which is the brightest in the material and visible world - the power is given, as I was saying, by all that study and pursuit of the arts which has been described”

Glaucon responds this is both hard to believe and to deny, depending on the point of view. But, he wants to establish the divisions of the dialectic, for “these paths lead to our final rest”, which is the knowledge of the good. Socrates feels that Glaucon will be unable to follow him here, “whether what I have told you would or would not have been a reality I cannot venture to say; but you would have seen something like reality, of that I am confident… The power of the dialectic alone can reveal this, and only to one who is a disciple of previous sciences”. The truth, therefore, can only ever be known through the art of dialectic, the art of contemplation, the art of philosophy.

Socrates says that there is no other method which can achieve the true existence and nature of the Universe, for “the arts in general are concerned with the desires and opinions of men”. He once again refers to the mathematician, stating that “they only dream about being, but never can they behold the waking reality so long as they leave the hypotheses which they use unexamined, and are unable to give an account of them”. This is another reference to skill being used incorrectly, as Socrates previously mentioned.

“When a man knows not his own first principle, and when the conclusion and intermediate steps are also constructed out of he knows not what, how can he imagine that such a fabric of convention can ever become science?” Hence, If the eye of the mathematician has become distracted at the beginning of their path, then how can the continuation of his practice ever be considered a science?

“Dialectic, and dialectic alone”, Socrates states, “goes directly to the first principle and is the only science which does away with hypotheses in order to make her ground secure; the eye of the soul”. He describes the soul as being “lifted upwards” aided by the sciences, which he believes should have another name, previously attributed to as “understanding”. Therefore, the sciences alone should not be mistaken as being useless or belittled by Plato. Mathematics, for example, is a vital intelligence but should not misguide the mind from discovering the true art of contemplation, rather it should aid the soul to look in the right direction and excel this ability with the help of other key sciences.

But what are these divisions Glaucon mentioned?

Divisions of Intellect and Opinion

Socrates explains: “[There are] four divisions… two for intellect and two for opinion, and to call the first division science, the second understanding, the third belief, and the fourth perception of shadows, opinion being concerned with becoming, and intellect with being”.

“As being is to becoming, so is pure intellect to opinion. And as intellect is to opinion, so is science to belief, and understanding to the perception of shadows”.

These are the four divisions of the dialectic. Science and understanding are categorized under intellect, and belief and perception of shadows are categorized under opinion. Plato believed empirical knowledge to be inferior, as the senses cannot always be trustworthy and the visible world is constantly changing. Therefore, belief and perception are matters of opinion. Instead, he turned to rational knowledge, looking for the same certainty and objectivity found in mathematics.

Science and understanding replace these false perceptions of shadows, and thus the soul, aided by the sciences, overwrites beliefs and opinions, turning the soul from being into becoming.

Socrates then asks Glaucon a set of conclusive questions:

• “[Do you agree] in describing the dialectician as one who attains a conception of the essence of each thing?” (Do you think a philosopher is a person who forms an idea about the existence of the visible world?)

• “And he who does not possess and is therefore unable impart this conception, in whatever degree he fails, may in that degree also be said to fail in intelligence?” (And if he fails in forming an idea, he also said to fail in intelligence?)

• “And would you say the same of the conception of the good? Until the person is able to abstract and define rationally the idea of good… Would you say that he knows neither the idea of good nor of any other good; he apprehends only a shadow, if anything at all, which is given by opinion and not science?” (Until a person knows the true good, would you say they don’t know the idea of any form of good, and that they only perceives a ‘shadow’ formed by his opinion, and not by science?)

• “And surely you would not have the children of your ideal State… You would not allow future rulers to be like posts (lines of a race course), having no reason in them, and yet to be set in authority over the highest matters?” (You wouldn’t allow those with no reason to rule your State?)

• “You will make a law that they shall have such an education as will enable them to attain the greatest skill in answering questions?”

• “Dialectic, then, as you will agree, is the coping-stone of the sciences, and it set over them; no other science can be placed higher - the nature of knowledge can no further go?” (The philosophy of pursuing knowledge and truth through reason is the best science and the most important above all)

Glaucon agrees to all of the questions. Dialectic thinking, and the pursue of knowledge, is the central feat necessary to Plato’s ideal ruler, alongside skill in the four branches of study explored in part two; arithmetic, the two types of geometry and astronomy. This will create a fine leader.

But who is worthy of being assigned these studies?

Choosing A Leader

Socrates states that this question, “remains to be considered”. “The same natures must still be chosen, and the preference again given to the surest and the bravest… having noble and generous tempers, they should also have the natural gifts which will facilitate their education”

These gifts are:

• “Keenness”; the drive to govern a State.

• “Ready powers of acquisition, for the mind more often faints from the severity of study, than from the severity of gymnastics; the toil is more entirely the mind’s own, and is not shared with the body”

• “A good memory”

• “A lover of labour”, an “unwearied solid man”

But Socrates believes that the problem at present is that there is no place for those who study philosophy. The field was not well established

The problem stemmed, Socrates thought, from man becoming “half industrious” and “half idle”. He gives the example of a lover of gymnastics and all bodily exercises, but they are uninterested in the art of learning. The solution is to distinguish “between the true son and the bastard” in respect to all virtues including temperance and courage. Those appointed with a defect in any virtue are considered to be “lame” and are hence not suitable to run the State.

“All these things, then, will have to be carefully considered by us; and if only those whom we introduce to this vast system of education and training are sound in body and mind, justice herself will have nothing to say against us, and we shall be saviours of the constitution and of the State, but if our pupils are men of another stamp, the reverse will happen, and we shall pour a still greater flood of ridicule on philosophy than she has to endure at present”

Socrates feels that he is reacting to the shadow cast across philosophy with vehemence. “When I saw philosophy so undeservedly trampled under foot of men I could not help feeling a sort of indignation at the authors of her disgrace”. (Seeing as Socrates is a narrator for Plato, Plato’s ardency for the matter may be a gnawing response to the injustice of his tutor’s death in 399 BC. The backlash to Socrates’s streetside debates resulted in the bleakest outcome.)

Socrates does not want to chose “old men” to govern. “Solon was under a delusion when he said that a man when he grows old may learn many things, for he can no more learn much than he can run much; youth is the time for any extraordinary toil”. “Therefore”, he states, “calculation and geometry and all other elements of instruction, which are a preparation for dialectic, should be presented to the mind in childhood”.

But knowledge, under any circumstances, should never be forced.

“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind”

It is far more obtainable when viewed as an “amusement”.

He compares teaching dialectic to the young to the practice of taking children to witness battles on horseback, allowing them to have a taste of blood like “young hounds”. Glaucon asks at which age they should be enrolled. Socrates replies, “when the necessary gymnastics are over; the period whether of two or three years which passes in this sort of training is useless for any other purpose; for sleep and exercise are unpropitious (unfavourable) to learning; and the trial of who is first in gymnastic exercises is one of the most important tests to which our youth are subjected”

Those of twenty years old who are selected from a class shall be “promoted to a higher honour, and the sciences which they learned without any order in their early education will now be bought together, and they will be able to see the natural relationship of them to one another and to true being”. Thus, once all of the branches of Socrates’s selective studies have been mastered, they will accumulate to aid the soul on the journey of seeking true knowledge.

“The comprehensive mind is always the dialectical”

A comprehensive mind explores every aspect of thought to achieve an understanding of, in Plato’s case, the visible world. Again, Socrates uses this term; comprehension being central to the study of philosophy. Therefore, the philosophical mind, is always concerned with reason; the rational mind. Empirical knowledge is inferior.

“Those who are most steadfast in their learning, and in their military and other appointed duties, when they have arrived at the age of thirty have to be chosen by you out of the select class, and elevated to higher honour; and you will have to prove them by the help of dialectic, in order to learn which of them is able to give up the use of sight and the other senses, and in company with truth to attain absolute being; and here, my friend, great caution is required”

This is further expressed in the above quotation when Socrates states the future governors must abandon the “use of sight and other senses”. Just as the Pre-Socratics, Plato felt that our senses could not be trusted, as we can see reflected in the entirety of the Cave Allegory. Hence, he turns to rational knowledge such as mathematics, for it’s permanence, unity and cerebral strengths.

The selection of the future ruler reads as a process of elimination, narrowing down the most diligent of candidates to the ideal finalists. Classes will study the selective branches, and when they reach twenty years of age, those with the most potential will be chosen, and then after a ten year period, there shall be another selection and these students will become philosophers.

But why must great caution be required? Glaucon asks.

Evil in the Dialectic

“Do you not remark how great is the evil which dialectic has introduced?” Socrates asks. This evil, he claims, is lawlessness. He then asks Glaucon if he will make an allowance for this. Glaucon asks for a further explanation.

Socrates tells him to imagine a “supposititious (ungenuine) son” who has a family, wealth and many admirers. He then discovers that his parents are not his real ones, but is unable to find out who his actual parents are. Socrates asks Glaucon how the man would behave differently upon being ignorant and upon knowing the truth. Socrates believes that whilst ignorant of the false relation, he will honour his parents and be “less inclined to neglect them when in need” nor disobey them. But when the truth surfaces, he would “diminish his honour and regard for them”, becoming more devoted to his admirers and being greatly influenced by them instead, troubling himself no more about his supposed parents. Glaucon is curious as to how this can be applied to philosophy.

“There are certain principles” Socrates explains, “about justice and honour, which were taught in childhood, and under parental authority we have been brought up, obeying and honouring them”. “There are also opposite maxims and habits of pleasure which flatter and attract the soul, but do not influence those of us who have any sense of right, and they continue to obey the maxims of their fathers”. Therefore, those of us with good reason are not distracted by frivolous pleasures, and maintain our values taught to us from birth. This can be compared to the example of the young athletic; although distracted by means of sport, he should not become half-idle, and ensure he continues to develop his understanding of the sciences and the dialectic.

Socrates then asks, if a man is questioned as to what is fair and honourable, and then proceeds to argue as his parents taught him, until he is “driven into believing that nothing is honourable any more than dishonourable, will he still honour and obey his previous values? Glaucon responds that this is impossible. They agree that the man cannot be expected to pursue “any life other than that which flatters his desires”, now that he ceases to think that his values honourable, and that he has gone from “being a keeper of the law… into a breaker of it”

Socrates feels that the students at thirty years old will naturally be this way, but this is “most excusable”. Therefore, “every care must be taken when introducing them to the dialectic”, because “there is a danger lest they should taste the dear delight too early; for youngsters when they first get the taste in their mouths, argument for amusement, and are always contradicting and refuting others in imitation of those who refute them; like puppy dogs they rejoice in pulling and tearing at all who come near them”. He talks further of the headstrong, impressionable youth, “they violently and speedily get into a way of not believing anything which they believed before, and hence, not only they but philosophy and all that relates to it is apt to have a bad name with the rest of the world”.

This will change as they mature, however. “He will imitate the dialectician who is seeking for the truth, and not the eristic (one who aims to successfully dispute another’s argument, rather than searching for the truth), who is contradicting for the sake of amusement, and the greater moderation of his character will increase instead of diminishing the honour of the pursuit”. However, the wayward behaviour of the young students will not be so difficult to restrain, for “special precautions” have been made during the future philosopher’s selection. The characteristics of the disciples are so be “orderly and steadfast”, not “aspirant or intruder”.

Socrates feels the study of philosophy should continue for five years, and after then, “they must be sent down to the den and compelled to hold any military or other office which young men are qualified to hold: in this way they will get their experience of life, and there will be an opportunity of trying whether, when they are drawn all manner of ways by temptation, they will stand firm or flinch”.

This stage lasts for fifteen years, and the men are now fifty years old. The men will be tested throughout this time against human affairs. Those who have survived and “distinguished themselves in every action of their lives and in every branch of knowledge” will “come at last to their consummaton: the time has now arrived at which they must raise the eye of the soul to the universal light which lightens all things and behold the absolute good”.

Philosophy is now their “chief pursuit” and this is how they are to order themselves, the State and it’s individuals. When the time comes, they will toil at politics and rule for public good, not as a “heroic action”, “but simply as a matter of duty”. The security of the State will not become misguided by influence of power, and shall be ruled in an honest, good and virtuous way led by a comprehensive, intelligent mind.

“When they have brought up in each generation others like themselves and left them in their place to be governors of the State, then they will depart to the Islands of Blest and dwell there, and the city will give them public memorials and sacrifices and honour them, if the Phythian oracle consent, as demigods, if not, as in any case blessed and divine”

Plato’s high regard and superior opinion of philosophers is made clear. He believes they should even be honoured as demigods, for they have the true understanding of the good, and have ascended the darkness of the cave to the reality of the visible world. Their souls have excelled in both intelligence and reason, and for that they should be blessed. He also states this applies to both women and male governors, to which Glaucon agrees, “since we have made them to share in all things like men”. Plato, therefore, seems to be gender egalitarian.

Socrates now proceeds to close the Cave Allegory:

“... That was has been said about the State and the government is not a mere dream, and although difficult, not impossible, but only possible in the way which has been supposed: that is to say, when the true philosopher Kings are born in a State, one or more of them despising the honours of this present world which they deem mean and worthless… regarding justice as the greatest and most necessary of all things”

Glaucon asks how this can all happen. How can they secure a society which is ran by goodwill and true justice? How can they ensure that those who rule are the best philosophers, and that the future generation will listen?

Socrates responds that they would “begin by sending out into the country all the inhabitants of the city who are more than ten years old, and will take possession of their children, who will be unaffected by the habits of their parents; these they will train… in the laws which we have given to them, and in the way the State and constitution… will soonest and most easily attain happiness, and the nation which such has a constitution will gain most.

Glaucon agrees that this is the best way for such a constitution to come into being and function. Although, separating children from their parents in order to divide them from any bad habits seems a little daunting, Socrates believes that the end result will only be happiness and a perfect State full of goodness.

Thus, this ends Plato’s discussion of “the perfect State, and of the man who bears it’s image”.