Compare And Contrast Plato's Sun Line And Cave

Stephanie Torres

December 5, 2014

Plato’s sun, line and cave

The universals in Plato’s sun, line and cave are being, truth, knowledge and intelligible. He uses the sun as the being, or the form of good, the light as the truth, the sight as the knowledge and the visibility as the intelligible. The form of the Good, in terms of Plato’s metaphysics is the most important. Plato is unable to tell us exactly what the Form of The Good is, but he does tell us that it is the foundation of intelligibility and of our capability to know. Also that it is accountable for bringing all of the other Forms into existence. Metaphysics (reality) and epistemology (knowledge) run in tandem to each other. There is only one world but things that are of varying degrees of reality populate it. Plato didn’t look at it as black and white; he looked at it as degrees and

corresponding degrees of reality. Plato goes on to describes four levels of reality—common illusions, belief, reasoning and philosophical understanding, which he compares to a line divided into four parts, or the divided line. As we rise out of the darkness of limited light and understandings, we develop some beliefs about how the world works from visible, practical physical objects. The third level of reasoning involves hypothesis, math and the highest level is comprehension of the fist principles of the whole and the Good. Each higher level holds more truth that the last.
The allegory of the cave in Plato’s sun, line and cave uses the myth of the heroic journey.

There are features that stay the same in every way it’s told. Someone is living an ordinary life, then they receive a calling, whether that’s someone they meet or an experience they have. This makes them realize there’s something special they have to do, but part of the problem is they don’t fully know what it is. At first they refuse, but the calling becomes too strong and they begin their journey. This journey includes puzzles, difficulties, foes they must overcome by dealing with their own shortcomings. This can be perceived as their character growing and eventually they reach their goal, everything becomes clear to them and they finally see who they really are. Then they also realize they must return to their point of origin to share this experience with everyone they know. I can apply this to my own life in that; college was my calling because I wasn’t satisfied with working a job just to get paid. I wanted to have a career in something I loved doing. I’ve gone through and continue to go through many difficulties on my

journey.
The cave is where people are chained to the bottom and can only see the shadows on the wall. They’ve been chained for so long that they believe the shadows on the wall are the only real thing in the world. A person who is successful is one who learns about the shadows and tries to predict what they do. What the people in the cave can’t see are the people behind them in the cave who are tricking the people looking at the shadows by moving different types of puppets to create these shadows. These people also think there’s nothing outside the cave and they believe they are the creators of reality. The smarter person gets the calling to stand up, turn around and see where the shadows are coming from. Our own illusions keep us chained to the bottom of the cave. We all have the ability to break the chains, but it is difficult to make our way out of the cave. Once you’re out to the illuminated world you begin to look around to get your eyes used to everything around you. The divided line represents the world of becoming (the cave); the world of being (outside the cave) and the sun represents the direct experience of the form of the good. The form of the good is our own true nature and we realize it was never the light before our eyes; it was always the light within our eyes looking out. After we receive this illumination and being able to see rather than stumble around in the dark, we do what the form of the good would do and go back into the darkness to enlighten what we’ve learned to bring possibilities and freedom.
This can also apply to real life for people with addictions who get the calling to go to rehab and better themselves. Those people who stick with it and succeed in getting themselves better often return to the darkness, or an AA meeting maybe, to share their experience and to show those in the darkness what they too can accomplish.