Truth and Reality vs Netflix and Cinema

Plato’s Republic and the Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave in Plato’s Republic is one of the most important distillations of the mind of the philosopher in terms of what is ultimate reality. In the allegorical cave lives a group of people—who may be called prisoners, because they are intellectually imprisoned within a world whose bars are fabricated by their own laziness. They have been there their whole lives, and because of how they are situated in the cave, they see only shadows on the wall, which are cast by the fire that burns behind them. They spend all their time paying attention to the shadows, mistaking them for actual forms and truth.

However, what Plato goes on to show in Socrates’ allegory is that the real world is outside—the actual truth is not these shadows but the light that makes them possible. One person frees himself from the shadows by turning around to locate the source of light. He follows it to the fire—but then outside the cave there is even more light—and high up in the sky is the source. This light in the sky symbolizes the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality. The rest of the allegory speaks to the man’s movement towards that truth, which is essentially like climbing an intellectual mountain. Basically, the whole of the Republic is Plato’s attempt to climb that mountain with regards to human society, how it should be organized, how people should live, and what really matters. What Plato gets at time and again is that the Good is the ultimate truth, and its pursuit is what matters above all else—and the pursuit of fame, pleasure, wealth—all of this pales in comparison.

The point that Plato makes is that the majority of people live most of their lives like fools or prisoners in the cave, blind to the reality and to the Good. Philosophers have the ability and the duty, therefore, to take part in the governance of society because they actually strive towards true knowledge while others flail about in ignorance.

My take is that Plato’s Republic in general and the Allegory of the Cave in particular represents the ultimate problem in human society: you have people who are interested in truth, and you have people who would rather spend their time watching flickering shadows—i.e., Netflix. Where I might beg to differ with Plato, or beg to interject some nuance here, is that I, too, used to watch a lot of movies—not because I wanted mindless entertainment but rather because I actually was interested in knowing truth. I grew up watching TV, and being inundated with advertisements and commercials, I fell under their spell—I believed that these products and services being advertised would bring me peace and contentment and everything they promised. I figured out eventually that this was not true. I also heard representations of real reality from others—i.e., remarks about what is true, what matters, what is important, even about what is good (because many people disagree about what is good, some almost completely). So I would watch movies to get a sense of what people were showing about life, reality, truth (if they dared to approach this topic), comparing it with what people were saying, and so on. So I didn’t watch out of mindlessness or ignorance but rather because I was interested in these things.

But I think Plato was right in that eventually you have to leave the flickering images because they are limited in terms of what they can convey. You are not going to get a very deep understanding of reality from the moving images on the screen or all. You have to go out into the light and meet reality and truth face to face. It is very much a journey or an experience that you have to deepen over time. This is where Plato is right, too, I think, about the purpose and need for education. It should be rooted in knowledge of truth. It needs to orient the soul to truth, to the Good. This is not easy, especially today, because there is significant polarity in terms of what people represent as the Good and how to get there.

Plato’s idea of the philosopher-king, I would say, is a bit idealistic. I think in times past, the king is the one with the strongest sword and will to use it. But truth does matter, too. Still, is Plato’s argument persuasive, ultimately? I would say so, to some degree. Education, yes—it matters, and it is needed—but it needs to be rooted in truth—i.e., the good, the true, the beautiful. And it needs to be made clear what these things are. The Republic, I believe, is somewhat confusing about what these things are—but it seems that they correspond with ideals of self-sacrifice and other virtues that have been recognized throughout history as virtues. Today, virtues are extolled that used to be considered vice. I would be wary of those.

As for the rule of the philosopher-king, I would say too that this would be nice but I don’t find it very likely or practical in our world. It applies better as a model for the individual person: let the philosopher in you be your guide, your king, until you arrive at the source of truth and can submit yourself to the Good. The philosopher-king in you may (like your conscience, I suppose) keep you from deviating off track.