Plato – The Cave

“For Plato the realm of ideas is the realm of true knowledge. The realm of material objects is the realm of mere opinon. His famous ananlogy of the cave illustrates this. In The Republic Plato tells an imaginary story of men who have lived in a cave as prisoners since childhood. They are chained and immobile. Their field of vision is restricted to a wall directly in front of them. Behind them is an elevate area where people are walking, carrying objects made of wood, stone, and other materials. The glow from a fire casts shadows of the people on the wall that the prisoners can see. The prisoners hear the voice of those people and assume that the voice come from the shadows. Indeed, their only perception of reality comes from the shadows.

Plato then asks what would happn if one of the prisoners were to be released and allowed to walk toward the fire. Having been cramped for so many years he would find walking painful. The glowing fire would hurt his eyes. Because looking at real objects is more painful than gazing at shadows, he would be inclined to return to his customary position and confine his glance to the familiar shadows.

Suppose the prisoner were dragged out of the cave and into the midday sun. The pain in his eyes would be intensified. Soon, however, his eyes would grow accustomed to the light and he would see things clearly. This would be a grand epiphany for him. If, however, he were then forced to return to the save and tried to explain his new understanding of reality, he would be ridiculed. “If they would lay hands on the man who was trying to set them free and lead them up,” said Plato, “they would kill him,” perhaps an allusion to the fate of his beloved mentor, Socrates.

For Plato, knowledge that is restricted to the material world is at best mere opinion and at worst ignorance. The task of education is to lead people out of darkness into light, out of the cave and its shadows and into the noonday sun.”

R.C. Sproul – The Consequence of Ideas. p35