The Myth of the Cave

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The Myth of the Cave
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Knowledge vs. Belief

• False

• Insufficient Evidence

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Skepticism

• René Descartes
• Bertrand Russell
• John Locke
• George Berkeley

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Plato

• First to question what we can know
• Absolute knowledge

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The Myth of the Cave

• Men living in an underground cave
• Been there since childhood
• Cannot turn their heads
• Puppet show
• Hear talking/sounds

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The Myth of the Cave
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The Myth of the Cave

• Do you think, in the first place, that such men
  could see anything of themselves and each other
  except the shadows which the fire casts upon the
  wall of the cave in front of them?
• If they could converse with one another, do you
  not think that they would consider these shadows
  to be the real things?

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The Myth of the Cave

• What if one man was freed?
• Could he name the objects?
• What if one man was dragged into the light?
• Could he see anything?
• It would take time to see the things themselves
• He would feel pity for those left in the cave

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The Myth of the Cave

• The realm of the visible should be compared to
  the prison dwelling, and the fire inside it to
  the power of the sun.
• Form of the Good
• Education . . . then is the art of doing this .
  . . turning around , the knowledge of how the
  soul can most easily and most effectively be
  turned around

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Enter Platos Cave
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