Intellectual Standards

Allegory of the Cave written by Plato is a conversation between Glaucon, Plato’s brother and his mentor Socrates; the story is narrated by Socrates. Plato wrote attempting to answer a philosophical question about the nature of reality. There are various stages of movement involved in the story passed by the person in the story. The prisoner is inside the cave where he has been trapped since childhood with other prisoners; with hands and feet bound, and head fixed to the wall, the person can only see what is in front of them and hear the footsteps of individuals moving behind. In the first stage, the person takes the shadows of the objects he sees in front of him to be the truth with the sounds of the footsteps belonging to the respective shadows. However, when the person is forced to see the fire and objects in front of the fire which he is told is the reality, he sees things differently from what he believed all his life in the cave. In the second stage, the person is dragged out of the cave into the sunlight which is a painful process due to the blinding light. In addition, it will take time for the person to see things clearly since he has never seen such light and the only light he knows is that of the flame. After some time, he would look at the sun, moon and all the objects around him easily. The final stage is the liberated person who goes back to the cave although it is now difficult for him to identify the shadows on the wall. This is because his vision has changed with the change in lighting in the cave compared to that of the sun. Additionally, he will make a fool of himself if he tries to explain all that he has seen to the other prisoners who have never been outside the cave. According to Plato, we should reason in depth to gain real knowledge of reality and the truth. Only then will we achieve accuracy in decision making and our thinking in our society. Plato believed that through education and training, people could reach high intellectual standards that make them philosophers which make them turn to the good, a positive aspect of our lives. Also, the philosophers have an obligation to enlighten others and help them achieve the same intellectual capabilities.