The Allegory of Knowledge

Socrates describes two kinds of people in his Allegory of the Cave.  The first kind is the prisoner in the cave, who stares at shadows projected on the wall of the cave. He does not have any idea that he is looking at reflections of reality and not reality itself. This person has never known any other reality than his shadow in the cave. The second person that Socrates describes is the person who walks back and forth with shadow puppets in the cave.  He knows that the shadows are projected from a fire in the cave and they are not real. However, if you ask him what the sun is, he will describe the fire that he has seen for his whole life.  He is also shaded from the outside real world, and has never known anything else than what is in the cave. This person knows more than the prisoner, but is still not exposed to reality. Socrates believes that if someone were to escape the cave, they could see and know what the real world is.  This individual would then be “enlightened.”

I believe that this allegory can be a metaphor for the stages of the development of human knowledge. I believe that the prisoner in the allegory represents humans when they are born.  At that stage in life, a human knows nothing more than what he can see.  A recently born human’s reality is simple.  As far as I believe, a baby does not go looking for answers to philosophical or scientific questions that humans have been asking for decades.  He only knows and is interested in what he sees.  

I believe that the second kind of person who recognizes that the shadows are not real represents the adult human population today.  As relatively more learned individuals, adults understand more about reality than babies do. In addition, adults and society at large are pushing to answer the fundamental questions about science and philosophy.  What is real?  Though some ideas may have working answers, as of now, we do not have the full picture of reality. For example, we do not know if there is an afterlife or what causes certain diseases. The meaning of the second individual is to show that for all humans know, there may be reality outside of what is familiar to us.

In the allegory, the hypothetical “enlightened” person represents something that humans will never reach.  Yet, I believe that enlightenment is what humans are aiming to do.  Every day, with scientific advancements and growth in knowledge, we may be inching closer to answers that we have always wanted to know.  Even the question of how our world was created has been explored and many believe we may have the answers. 

In Socrates’ Allegory of the Cave, he describes the enlightened individuals going back into the cave and leading the others to reality. If Socrates’ allegory is a metaphor for the development of human knowledge, then I pose the question of whether this is what we want. Should we want to know all of the answers to life’s philosophical and scientific questions? I strongly believe that the answers to some questions will never be uncovered. Personally, I think that some questions should be left unanswered even if there are answers that can be found.  If humans knew the answers to how we got here or why we are here, I don’t think that there would be any motivation to keep on living.  It is life’s unanswered questions that motivate me to live the best life I can live, because I don’t know if I have a predetermined purpose.  I can pursue whatever I love. 

I believe that Socrates’ allegory of the cave can be a metaphor for the history and future of human development and knowledge.  Should we want to keep on learning, or should some question be left unanswered?