man The that would be king While Plato had many accomplishments to his name, such as founding the Academy in Athens and teaching Aristotle; this famous Athenian is most known for his philosophical works. His philosophical style was to use dialogue and allegories. Some of the most famous are his The Cave and The Divided Line. While these allegories are about the different levels of understanding a person can posses they each show a different approach to the subject. While The Divided Line outlines the stages a person can progress through to enlightenment, The Cave illustrates the responsibility of those who have become enlightened and the difficulty in returning to an earlier stage. The Divided Line, which is merely a linear expression of the various stages of enlightenment, is divided into two sections: the sensible world, and the intelligible world. These are further divided into "shadows and reflections" as well as "physical objects" for the sensible world, as well as "physical objects" and "mathematics and hypotheses". These represent the progression of man's reasoning ability from the infantile "shadows and reflections," which stands for a person's imagination, to the "physical objects" in the "sensible world." These are the physical objects one can perceive with the five senses. As one progresses along the line they begin to formulate unverified assumptions of the nature of the physical world these assumptions are only further enhanced to their peak by the "mathematics and hypotheses" where one sees the emergence of abstract thought and conceptualization on not just the physical word but also that which creates it. This path is followed in the allegory of The Cave.
At first, one finds a group of prisoners who are bound inside a dark cave in front of a partial wall that has various figures being manipulated by those behind the screen giving the appearance of marinates. The prisoner at this stage is left to simply look at the shadows cast upon the partial wall and thus must use their imagination about the nature of the objects being manipulated. Eventually one prisoner is led out of the cave. The light of the sun (truth in this story) dazzles his eyes and allow him only to view his new surroundings at night just as in the second stage of the line the people simply only can view the physical world with out any real understanding as to why the it exists. As the fictional prisoner spends more time outside of the cave his eyes eventually adjust and allow him to see what is around him during the day, eventually he is lead up a path where he comes in contact with the sun itself. It is here that the prisoner is able to not only see all around him but also understand what it is that illuminates his surroundings, the sun. Here the prisoner is at the highest stage of cognizance the "mathematics and hypotheses" stage where he is truly happy and able to bask in the glory of knowledge gained from the sun. Eventually the prisoner feels pity on those he left behind in the cave. While he feels that it would be painful to remain in the cave for a long time however out of pity for those trapped in that situation he descends so that he can elevate his former compatriots. It is this final act that is the most important among both of works for it is this that illustrates responsibility the of those who have been enlightened. This principle was originally proposed in the Republic under the section the philosopher king. Here Plato outlines that those best suited to rule a state are the philosopher-kings. These people have not only knowledge and the utmost knowledge they also exhibit the virtues of human nature justice, moderation, courage, and wisdom. It is only those who
have those four virtues as well as vast knowledge and wisdom, only these should feel the call to go back down the path and elevate those trapped in the cave by serving as a head of state. This is important because while a teacher or professor can influence class rooms at a time and bring them to a high standing on the path only a head of state can do that for a whole society. As well who else is better to run the government than those who have the clearest understanding of reality? It is here that the sun comes into play. It is not until the prisoner fully experiences the effects of the sun, which represents the Forum of the good, does he acquire the needed knowledge, perspective, and virtues needed to satisfy the requirements for being a philosopher king. This can be seen by the fact that once he has become enlightened he does not need to be spurred on by a call to action but instead goes on his own. He proceeds out of his own personal moral conviction to lead his friends out of the repressive environment and into the freedom of total enlightenment. These ideas presented by Plato where profound for the ancient world, but they should not be left there. One can learn to concern these ideas with principles and philosophies of life in the modern world. This is important for modern times because if there existed a community a philosopher kings in the international political arena. We would have, instead of a series of power hungry megalomaniacs, a community of benevolent philosopher kings who would elevate the global community. This would come about as a result of them attempting to bring the world closer to the proverbial sun, where they would experience total enlightenment. However, mankind doesn't necessarily have to sit idly and wait to be elevated by its global leaders. To some degree it can be said that it is the responsibility of each
individual man or woman to free themselves from the chains of ignorance; to go up that steep path to their own total enlightenment. While the leaders, through educational programs, increase the chances of their populace becoming enlightened they can only show them the door. It is the responsibility of each man and woman to break their own chain that bind and find their own path to enlightenment. However, to become true philosopher kings themselves, one must not only be enlightened they must reach back down into the cave and start others on their journey toward enlightenment. It is because of this, that the works The Cave and The Divided line are so intrinsic to the elevation of the soul. They act as road maps for the path of enlightenment and self betterment. They take us from our childhood years, where we simply viewed the world and used our imagination to experience it, to our more adult cognitive life. In this life we are able to not only understand the world visually but contemplate it abstractly. In order that we can attain a much more illuminated perspective on the world that surrounds us.