The Allegory Of The Cave

In Plato’s Republic, Socrates argues that for the perfectly just city to be realized in practice, philosopher must become kings and kings must become philosophers. In order to prove his point I will discuss the metaphor of the divided line and the allegory of the cave to explain Socrates’ theory of knowledge. Finally the questions of whether what a person knows make him or her better person? Does it qualify him or her to rule? Will get answered.

First what is the divided line? The divided line is the theory that Socrates explains in book VI and is a continuation of his Sun metaphor from earlier in the text. In this metaphor Socrates wants to show a point of view of the states of the minds in which we live on, the physical world and that of the shadows. An interpretation of this is that we as human do not know about something if all we know is based on shadows or images of it. A good example would be coaching an NFL football team, every fan think they can do a better job if given the opportunity especially after a disturbing loss. We call this Monday morning quarterback, in fact the true if the fans may sound like they know how to do the job but is not true. They are basing the decisions they would have made on the actions that occurred after the fact. Socrates said that the divided line has four sub-sections A) Intelligence B) Reason C) Belief D) Illusion. We the fans according to this division belong to section C and D, we belief in the illusion that we can coach an NFL team a lot better than a man who has dedicated his life the game and must likely has actual professional playing experience.

The allegory of the cave is Socrates’ example continuing on the divided line theory focusing on section C) Belief and D) Illusion. He goe...

... middle of paper ...

...people that want to know how to rule. For this to become true those who are kings must become philosophers because justice “concern is not with external actions, but with a man’s inward self, his true concern and interest” (Plato, 443d). Justice is not the right of the stronger like Thrasymachus said but the effective harmony of the whole community.

I think that what a person knows makes him or her better person, because is through education that society is going to progress. By making individuals better persons that in effect will translate into a better society as a whole which should be the main concern. Does education qualify him or her to rule? Absolutely it does; there is no way something good can come out of an ignorant ruler. If the ruler does not understand the struggles of other it cannot rule effectively any community no matter how big or small it is.