Plato's Allegory of the Cave: Meaning and Symbolism

Interpretation of the Myth of the Cave

Anthropological Dimension

• Symbols of Myth / Interpretation:
• Prisoners: The man who lives in the material world, subject to material or concrete needs, values, and judgments.
• Shadows in the Cave: Misidentification of human reality with perceptions and feelings, with the mortal body and concupiscible soul.
• Release and Promotion: Distrust of the sensible world and the discovery of the intelligible world, of reality through ideas. Progressive decoupling of body and soul.
• Output Outside the Cave: Moral or intellectual liberation from the limitations and shackles of the sensible world, body, and soul to the rise of the intelligible practice of dialectics or philosophy.
• Outside World Objects: Correct identification of human reality with ideas and the immortal rational soul.

Ontological and Epistemological Dimensions

• Symbols of Myth / Performance / Type of Knowledge:
• Shadows in the Cave: Review perceptions (Doxa), imagination, or conjecture (eikasía).
• Objects in the Cavern: Natural objects and things; Belief (pistis).
• Sun Fire: Appearance, Error.
• Images and Reflections of Natural Objects: Mathematical ideas (geometric shapes); Science (Episteme), discursive reason, and thought (dianoia).
• Natural Objects: Ideas of things, or intuitive reason and intelligence (Dialectical).
• Sun: The Idea of Good; Reality, Truth.

Ethical and Political Dimension

• Symbols of Myth / Interpretation:
• Need to Free the Prisoner: Plato insists he must be forced or coerced into being released. The human being is not for the physical or natural world, but for the absolute world of ideas—the true reality. To be good or just, one needs to engage in dialectic or philosophy (legitimation of moral intellectualism and political authoritarianism).
• Ascent and Exit of the Cave: A long process of education for the future philosopher-king (lasting more than fifty years).
• The Released Prisoner Returns to Descend into the Cavern: The philosopher cannot concentrate solely on the contemplation of ideas; they have a moral obligation and political duty to return to the everyday world to help the release of others, or at least to govern to achieve virtuous individuals in a just community.
• The Prisoner Release and Return: Persecuted and killed by other prisoners. The majority rejects the philosopher because they still obey the senses and the body. The death of Socrates or Plato's problems (slavery) are clear examples.
• Understanding the Role of the Sun in the Outside World: Understanding the role of the Idea of Good as the principle that organizes and regulates reality and illuminates moral and political action.