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25 - The Republic - Plato · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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Book seven, Part one. And now I said, let me show in
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a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened. Behold human beings living
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in an underground den which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all
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along the den. Here they have been from their childhood, and have their
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legs and necks chained so that they cannot move and can only see before them,
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being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind
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them, a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and
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the prisoners there is a raised way, and you will see if you look,
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a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players
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have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. I see,
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and do you see, I said, men passing along the wall,
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carrying all sorts of vessels and statues, and figures of animals made of wood
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and so tone, and various materials which appear over the wall. Some of
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them are talking, others silent. You have shown me a strange image,
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and they are strange prisoners like ourselves, I replied. And they see only
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their own shadows or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on
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the opposite wall of the cave. True, he said, how could they
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see anything but the shadows? If they were never allowed to move their heads
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and of the objects which are being carried in like manner, they would only
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see the shadows, Yes, he said, And if they were able to
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converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was
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actually before them? Very true? And suppose further that the prison had an
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echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy
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when one of the passers by spoke that the voice which they heard came from
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the passing shade. At no question, he replied to them, I said,
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the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images, that
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is certain. And now look again and see what will naturally follow if the
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prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of
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them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and
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walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains. The glare
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will distress him, and he will be enabled to see the realities of which,
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in his former state he had seen the shadows, and then conceive some
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one saying to him that what he saw before was an illusion, but that
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now, when he is approaching nearer to being, and his eyes turned towards
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more real existence, he has a clearer vision. What will be his reply?
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And you may further imagine that he is instructor is point into the objects
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as they pass, and require him to name them. Will he not be
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perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer
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than the objects which are now shown to him, far truer. And if
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he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a
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pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take refuge in the
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objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be,
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in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him.
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True, he said. And suppose once more that he is reluctantly dragged up
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a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he is forced into the
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presence of the sun himself. Is he not likely to be pained and irritated?
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When he approaches the light. His eyes will be dazzled, and he
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will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities,
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not all in a moment, he said, he will require to grow
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accustomed to the side of the upper world. And first he will see the
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shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water,
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and then the objects themselves. Then he will gaze upon the light of the
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moon and the stars and the spangled heaven. And he will see the sky
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and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun
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by day. Certainly, less of all, he will be able to see
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the Sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water. But he
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will see him in his own proper place, and not in another, and
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he will contemplate him as he is. Certainly, he will then proceed to
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argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is
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the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain
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way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to
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behold. Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then
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reason about him. And when he remembered his old habitation and the wisdom of
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the Dan and his fellow prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate
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himself on the change and pity them, certainly he would. And if they
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were in the habit of conferring honors among themselves on those who were quickest to
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observe the passing shadows, and to remark which of them went before, and
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which followed after, and which were together, and who were therefore best able
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to draw conclusions as to the future. Do you think that he would care
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for such honors and glories or envy the possessors of them? Would he not
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say with Homer, better to be the poor servant of a poor master,
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and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their
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manner. Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything
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than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner. Imagine once more,
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I said, such a one coming suddenly out of the sun to be
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replaced in his old situation, would he not be certain to have his eyes
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full of darkness? To be sure? He said? And if there were
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a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners
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who had never moved out of the den, while his side was still weak,
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and before his eyes had become steady, and the time which would be
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needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable. Would he
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not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went, and
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down he came without his eyes, and that it was better not even to
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think of ascending. And if any one tried to lose another and lead him
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up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would
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put him to death, no question. He said this entire eleg I said,
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you may now append, dear Glaucon to the previous argument. The prison
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house is the world of sight. The light of the fire is the sun.
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And you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be
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the assent of the soul into the intellectual world. According to my poor belief,
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which at your desire I have expressed, whether rightly or wrongly, God
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knows, but whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world
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of knowledge, the idea of good appears less of all, and is seen
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only with an effort, and when seen, is also inferred to be the
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universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the
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Lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and
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truth in the intellectual, and that this is the power upon which he who
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would act rationally, either in public or private life, must have his eye
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fixed. I agree, he said, as far as I am able to
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understand you. Moreover, I said, you must not wonder that those who
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attain to this be a tific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs,
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for their souls are ever hastening into the upper world, where they desire to
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dwell, Which desire of theirs is very natural, if our allegory may be
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trusted, Yes, very natural. And is there anything surprising in one who
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passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of men misbehaving himself in a ridiculous
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manner, If while his eyes are blinking, and before he has become accustomed
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to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law or
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in other places about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and
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is endeavoring to meet the conceptions of those who have never yet seen absolute justice.
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Anything but surprising, he replied. Any One who has common sense will
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remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds and arise from two
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causes. Either from coming out of the light or from going into the light,
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which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the
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bodily eye. And he who remembers this, when he sees any one whose
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vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh. He
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will first ask whether that soul of men has come out of the brighter life
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and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from
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darkness to the day, is dazzled by excessive light. And he will count
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the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity
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the other. Or if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which
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comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than
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in the laugh which greets him or returns from above out of the light into
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the den. That he said is a very just distinction. But then,
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if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say
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that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before,
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like sight into blind eyes. They undoubtedly say this, he replied, whereas
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our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already,
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and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light
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without the whole body. So too, the instrument of knowledge can only,
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by the movement of the whole soul, be turned from the world of becoming
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into that of being, and learned by degrees to endure the sight of being
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and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of
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the good very true. And must there not be some art which will effect
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conversion in the easiest and quickest manner, not implanting the faculty of sight,
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for that exists already, but has been turned into the wrong direction and is
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looking away from the truth. Yes, he said, such an art may
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be presumed. And whereas the other so called virtues of the soul seem to
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be akin to bodily qualities, for even when they are not originally innate,
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they can be implanted later by habit and exercise, the virtue of wisdom,
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more than anything else, contains a divine element which always remains, and by
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this conversion is rendered useful and profitable, or on the other hand, hurtful
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and useless. Did you never observe the narrow intelligence flashing from the keen eye
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of a clever rogue? How eager he is how clearly his paltry soul sees
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the way to his end. He is the reverse of blind, but his
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keen eyesight is forced into the service of evil, and he is mischievous in
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proportion to his cleverness. Very true, he said, But what if there
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had been a circumcision of such natures in the days of their youth, and
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they had been severed from those sensual pleasures such as eating and drinking, which,
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like leaden weights, were attached to them at their birth, and which
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drag them down and turn the vision of their souls upon the things that are
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below. If I say, they had been released from these impediments and turned
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in the opposite direction, the very same faculty in them would have seen the
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truth as keenly as they see what their eyes are turned to. Now very
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likely, yes, I said. And there is another thing which is likely,
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or rather unnecessary, inference from what has preceded, that neither the uneducated
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and uninformed of the truth, nor yet those who never make an end of
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their education, will be able ministers of state, not the former, because
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they have no single aim of duty, which is the rule of all their
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actions, private as well as public. Nor the latter because they will not
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act at all except upon compulsion, fancying that they are already dwelling apart in
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the islands of the blessed. Very true, he replied, Then, I
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said, the business of us, who are the founders of the state,
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will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already
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shown to be the greatest of all. They must continue to ascend until they
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arrive at the good. But when they have ascended and seen enough, we
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must not allow them to do as they do. Now, what do you
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mean. I mean that they remain in the upper world. But this must
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not be allowed. They must be made to descend again among the prisoners in
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the den and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having
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or not. But it is not this unjust, he said, ought we
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to give them a worse life when they might have a better. You have
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again forgotten, my friend, I said, the intention of the legislator,
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who did not aim at making anyone one class in the state happy above the
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rest, The happiness was to be in the whole state. And he held
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the citizens together by persuasion and necessity, making them benefactures of the state.
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And therefore benefactures of one another. To this end, he created them not
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to please themselves, but to be his instruments in binding up the state.
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True, he said, I had forgotten observed Glaucan, that there will be
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no injustice in compelling our philosophers to have a care and providence of others.
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We shall explain to them that in other states, men of their class are
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not obliged to share in the toils of politics. And this is reasonable,
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for they grow up at their own sweet will, and the government would rather
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not have them. Being self taught, they cannot be expected to show any
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gratitude for a culture which they have never received. But we have brought you
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into the world to be rulers of the hive kings of your and of the
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other citizens, and have educated you far better and more perfectly than they have
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been educated. And you are better able to share in the double duty.
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Wherefore, each of you, when his turn comes, must go down to
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the general underground abode and get the habit of seeing in the dark. When
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you have acquired the habit, you will see ten thousand times better than the
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inhabitants of the den, and you will know what the several images are and
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what they represent, because you have seen the beautiful and just and good in
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their truth. And thus our state, which is also yours, will be
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a reality and not a dream only, and will be administered in a spirit
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unlike that of other states, in which men fight with one another about shadows
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only and are distracted in the struggle for power, which in their eyes is
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a great good. Whereas the truth is that the state in which the rulers
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are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and
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the state in which they are most eager the worst. Quite true, he
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replied, And will our pupils, when they hear this, refuse to take
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their turn at the toils of state, when they are allowed to spend the
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greater part of their time with one another in the heavenly light. Impossible,
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he answered, For they are just men, and the commands which we impose
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upon them are just. There can be no doubt that every one of them
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will take office as a stern necessity, and not after the fashion of our
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present rulers of state. Yes, my friend, I said, and there
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lies the point you must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life
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than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well ordered state.
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For only in the state which offers this will they rule who are truly
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rich, not in silver and gold, but in virtue and wisdom, which
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are the true blessings of life. Whereas if they go to the administration of
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public affairs poor and hungering after their own private advantage, thinking that hence they
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are to snatch the chief, good order, there can never be, for
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they will be fighting about office, and the civil and domestic broils which thus
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arise will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and of the whole state.
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Most true, he replied, And the only life which looks down upon the
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life of political ambition is that of true philosophy. Do you know of any
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other? Indeed I do not, he said. And those who govern ought
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not to be lovers of the task, for if they are, there will
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be rival lovers, and they will fight no question. End of Book seven,
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Part one,