In the Allegory
of the Cave, Socrates suggests that, without philosophical
education, we are all like the prisoners in the cave. What are your thoughts on
this? How is philosophy supposed to be liberating? Do you think Socrates is
right to be so pessimistic about life without philosophy?
According to Socrates, the path of a philosophical
education is a hard one to walk. Without philosophical education, we as humans
lack that pursuit and Instead of gaining knowledge, we act like the prisoners
in the cave and do exactly what we are told to do. Our society can be compared
to the society of the prisoners. From the moment they were born, the prisoners
were chained up so that they could not look in any direction except straight
ahead. Shadows were cast behind them and they thought these shadows were real.
For them a tree was nothing more but grey shadows and the stories being
illustrated was their reality. They were told to never turn their heads and the
prisoners obeyed every command. Our society today follows those same rules.
When we are born, we are taught that we have to go to school, get an education,
find a job, and then get married. No one questions this order of life because
that is how it has always been done. It is what our parents did and their
parents before that. Out of the entire group of prisoners, there was just one
man who questioned this. He wanted to know what was on the opposite side of the
wall and he took the risk to find out. He was not like all of the other
prisoners who believed everything they were told. He wanted to gain more
knowledge and his curiosity is what led him to achieve his pursuit of wisdom or
philosophical education. If he just
followed his society and lived his life according to their norms, he would have
never attained philosophical education. Is there a higher truth in our society
that exists? I would sometimes question my parents when they explained the way
they were brought up. At times, I would even revolt and try things my way to
see if I can come up with a better outcome. I believe we are living in a
society where sophists are roaming around telling us that there is no higher
truth, no other reality, life is the way we live it now and there is no other
knowledge to gain from this.
I believe Philosophy to be liberating
because the prisoner who went in search of the truth attained freedom. He
achieved freedom from his bonds, freedom from his life in the cave, and he even
found happiness in his freedom. At first he rejected what he first saw and
thought to himself that this can’t be real. However, after going into the light
and being blinded by the sun, facing the pain on his eyes, he became liberated
and realized that there was a higher truth. The prisoner was amazed to find out a whole
other world existed and wanted to share his treasure with the rest of his
society but no one took him seriously. They all thought he was a fool and had
lost his mind. If they had listened to him, they would have also been liberated
and they would have shared the same happiness and joy he found in a life
without bonds. However, because they did not want to go against their rules of
life, they ended up living a miserable life compared to the prisoner who
escaped. Attaining the knowledge of philosophy may also do the same for us. As I
explained, in our society we wake up and go to work or school, from there we
shop and go home. We may participate in an activity every so often, but our
lifestyles don’t change. Socrates mentions the sun as the ‘good’ and therefore
liberating the prisoner once he was introduced to the light. If we were to be
liberated from the teachings of philosophy, what consequences would we face in
today’s society? Would we also have a trial as Socrates did for our
philosophical education?
I do agree with Socrates that life is
pessimistic without philosophy but as the cliché goes, “Ignorance is Bliss”. In
his story, the prisoners in the cave were leading a miserable life. They lived
in darkness and in chains that prevented them from moving. They were unhappy
but were too afraid to change anything. When the escaped prisoner came back to
help them escape in order to live a better and happier life, they laughed at
him. They were scared to admit that the prisoner could actually be telling the
truth. It was easier for them to pretend that he was crazy rather than to come
together and change their way of life. If they had the wisdom, they would have
known the prisoner was telling the truth and they would have all lead
optimistic lives instead of pessimistic lives. I believe in today’s society we do
reside in a cave blinded from the higher truth. As I said before if we were to
gain the knowledge that Socrates wanted us to be aware of, how would we be able
to get along in society? Just like Socrates, we would have an enmity with many
people for questioning their wisdom and then get in trouble (arrested, ticket,
death sentence). Without philosophy we are constantly taking orders from others
to live blind life in the dark, Socrates believes that if we face the pain to
see the brighter truth, we can be liberated. I do agree that life can be
pessimistic without philosophy, but in today’s society, how will we know when
we are liberated?