The analogies described within the Republic could be seen as the tools that Socrates utilized in order to prove to Glaucon how the philosopher indeed lives the most fulfilled and pleasurable life in comparison to those who live unjustly. The intrinsic nature of revelation and enlightenment to philosophers apart from those individuals only consumed with the bodily pleasures is the central aspect of Socrates’ argument in favor of justice. To begin, let us briefly skim through the three analogies, after which I will correlate them to Plato’s theory of the Forms and his belief of the importance of education.

The “analogy of the sun” for example, was used to respond to Glaucon’s challenge to Socrates to define goodness. Unable to give a direct definition of such a loaded concept, Socrates ventured to instead identify what he referred to as the “child of Goodness”, which in his conjecture pertained to the sun. According to Socrates, the sun has the ability to give illumination, allowing us to see and to be seen with the eyes. That being said, in the same way the sun gives visibility to physical objects, the “concept of goodness” likewise enhances our ability to see the truth of reality; an enlightenment of sorts. In essence, drawing the comparison between sight and knowledge together, in the same manner that light allows mankind to perceive objects through the senses, knowledge of the objects of knowledge (The Forms) is a primary necessity if mankind is to truly know anything. The forms, in and of themselves, are the non-physical objects that connect themselves to in their pursuit of knowledge of the “Good”. It is the connection to these objects, according to Socrates, that makes the philosopher’s life more pleasurable and happy.

The “line analogy” found at the end of Book VI of the Republic, perhaps one of Socrates’ most difficult arguments, operates on the imagery that reality is separated into two categories: The Visible and the Intelligible. The visible, located below the divided line, is defined by the physical objects and our ability to perceive them with the senses. The sun, while being the source of illumination of these objects, is also posited with being the source of their genesis. In contrast, there also exists a realm beyond that which is visible, called the intelligible world. As the sun illuminates physical objects, so the “intelligible realm” is illuminated by the “Good” and it’s Forms. The light of the sun in the physical world grants humanity’s ability to have vision and gives every object their illumination. The “Good”, in the intelligible realm, grants humanity the “light” used to attain knowledge and illuminates objects pursuant to this knowledge, which can be identified as the Forms. In all cases, it is the knowledge of the “Good” that brings true enlightenment.

Finally, the “cave analogy” presents perhaps one of the most intrinsic analogous depictions of the “glorious” occurrence when a philosopher realizes the importance of true enlightenment. Specifically, in this analogy, Socrates imagines prisoners chained to the wall of a cave staring at its blankness for the entirety of their lives with a fire burning behind them. As objects passed in front of the fire the people would watch the shadows that were projected onto the wall, and they would give them names. These images, according to the analogy, would be mistaken for “reality” in the eyes of the prisoners. To make his point, Socrates posited that the philosopher is like a prisoner that has been freed from his chains while subsequently coming to the realization that the shadows projected on the wall weren’t in fact reality at all but elements of manufactured reality. It is from here that the philosopher comes to discover actual truth.

The “fire projecting shadows in the cave” could be seen as a kind of depiction of the enslavement we as humanity are bound in when we consider the reality only perceived through our faulty senses as “true reality”. It is when we are liberated from this imprisoned state that we are given the illumination of truth, for we are able to perceive and pursue the true objects of knowledge instead of living in confusion to the “shadowy depictions”.

So how do all three of these theories correlate to Plato’s theory of the Forms and his philosophy on education? It would already seem readily apparent that “enlightenment” is the common factor present in all of these analogies. Plato’s theory of Forms is important in understanding relation to the analogies. Plato argued that these Forms are in fact the non-physical objects that represent true reality. These Forms, such as justice, goodness and beauty and the knowledge of them is crucial for the purpose of enlightenment. From Plato’s writings, we can further conjecture that Socrates’ held the position that study of these Forms could be the only way to attain true knowledge.

This kind of knowledge, in the context of the Republic, could only come through the process of education, which in effect yields enlightenment. One can only be just through the knowledge of the Forms according to Plato. According to Myungioon Lee of Marquette University, “Plato regards education as a means to achieve justice, both individual justice and social justice. According to Plato, individual justice can be obtained when each individual develops his or her ability to the fullest. In this sense, justice means excellence.” (Lee, 1994).

This is important in understanding the contexts of the three analogies described above. All of them involved the importance of illumination and how our knowledge of reality itself can only be perceived through reason and not the senses chained down to the faulty appearances of the physical world. In essence, education to attain knowledge of the abstract objects (Forms) makes one just. As Lee would assert, “Plato believes that all people can easily exist in harmony when society gives them equal educational opportunity from an early age to compete fairly with each other. Without equal educational opportunity, an unjust society appears since the political system is run by unqualified people; timocracy, oligarchy, defective democracy, or tyranny will result.” (Lee, 1994).

The education is the philosopher “breaking free of his chains” and “knowledge” becomes the enlightenment he receives through the illumination. As a final thought, do you think in today's society we are more concerned with "education" or "indoctrination"? I look forward to my readers' comments.

Reference:

Lee, M. (1994) “Plato’s Philosophy of Education: Its Implication for Current Education”. Marquette University. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations/AAI9517932/