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Title: Metaphorical Representation in Platos Allegory of the Cave


1
Metaphorical Representation in Platos Allegory
of the Cave
  • Platos metaphysical world and its relation to
    the concept of understanding myth and metaphor

2
Who is Plato? Why is he important?
  • Classical Greek Philosopher ? 428 BC -348 BC
  • Together with his teacher Socrates and student
    Aristotle, Plato helped lay the philosophical
    foundation of Western culture.
  • His brilliance as a writer and thinker can be
    witnessed by reading his Socratic dialogues ? in
    this case, we will be focusing on sections of the
    Republic, namely Book 7 and the Allegory of the
    Cave

3
Thesis
  • The thesis behind Platos allegory is the basic
    belief that all we perceive are imperfect
    reflections of the Forms, which subsequently
    represent truth and reality. When analyzing the
    Allegory of the Cave its important to remember
    the two elements of the story the fictional
    metaphor of the prisoners, and the philosophical
    beliefs in which the myth is supposed to
    represent (objectivism), thus presenting us with
    the allegory itself. Although L J argue against
    the theory of objectivist tradition, metaphor in
    this interest can be seen only as relevant to an
    account of truth.

4
Elements of Metaphor found in The Allegory of the
Cave
  • The Sun, The Forms, The Journey of the Prisoners
    (intellectual), The Cave, The Natural World, The
    Element of Truth (experiential/observed),
    Knowledge and the Realms.

5
Plot ? The Allegory of the Cave
  • The Allegory of the Cave is a section of the
    Republic that draws its dramatic force from a
    contrast between a natural world outside the cave
    and an artificial, humanly built world within it.
  • Beyond the caves entrance there are shadows and
    reflections, the parts of nature that cast them,
    and the sun the source that supplies the light
    for the shadows.
  • Inside the cave, the same schema is presented,
    but everything is artificially made. There is
    kindled fire (supplies artificial light), and
    representational images of plants and animals,
    all of which are cast in shadows on a wall.
  • Prisoners (metaphorical term for the
    uneducated/those who do not know the forms) who
    are chained before the shadows are in an
    un-natural state of bondage.
  • If they were guided further up the cave to the
    mouth of the entrance to the true and natural
    home of the elements casting the shadows (plants,
    light, animals) they would be forced to realize
    their former state was one of ignorance and were
    living in an unnatural world. There is a
    metaphorical journey that takes place in this
    instant, it is represented as such ? The journey
    is symbolic of the passing of the soul from life
    to death, death symbolic of immortality and
    realization.
  • The point of the Allegory is the individuals
    ascension into the intellectual realm ? Plato
    wants us out of the visible realm (in cave) and
    into the realm of reality (outside the cave the
    unchanging world). The place where you can
    acquire knowledge of the forms.

6
Metaphysical and Epistemological Set Up
7
The Allegory continued
  • The Allegory of the Cave
  • Introduces to us, Platos views on metaphysics
    and epistemology in particular the Doctrine of
    Forms.
  • Will provide a foundation for his conception of
    the ideal state and the ideal individual.
  • Forms do not depend on minds to exist. They do
    not depend on collective mind. Prof. Dielmann,
    Susan. Plato and Human Nature Lecture. September
    19/2007
  • Platos Doctrine of the Forms
  • Forms are mind-independent, eternal, changeless,
    incorporeal (dont exist on this earth),
    imperceptible, and known only through reason.
  • Forms give us an objective standard by which
    concepts or objects are judged.
  • Particular actions or objects are judged by their
    participation in a conceptual Form.
  • E.g. the form of the Chair is something by which
    all particular chairs are judged to be chairs
    the form of beauty is something by which all
    particular objects are judged to be beautiful.
    (Prof. Dielmann, Susan. Plato and Human Nature
    Lecture. September 19/2007)

8
Complex Coherence across Metaphor Platos notion
of Journey
  • A metaphorical structuring of a concept, like
    the journey metaphor, allows us to get a handle
    on one aspect of the concept. Thus a metaphor
    works when it satisfies a purpose, namely,
    understanding an aspect of the concept (Lakoff
    Johnson, 97).
  • In The Allegory of the Cave, The journey is
    symbolic of the passing of the soul from life to
    death, death symbolic of immortality and
    realization.

9
Two Key Concepts of Metaphor Human Thought and
Truth
  • There are two key concepts that Lakoff and
    Johnson provide for us in their discussion of
    metaphorical usage in Western culture
  • Human thought is metaphorical. Metaphorical
    thinking underlies all of our statements about
    the world, and all of our understanding of the
    world.
  • Truth is best understood as neither objective
    nor subjective but as experiential. We
    understand the world and test the truthfulness of
    assertions about the world by conceptualizing it
    through a system of culturally elaborated
    metaphors ? can the allegory of the cave be
    proved or disproved? (http//www.lcc.gatech.edu/m
    urray/1102/metaphor_notes.html)
  • Since the time of the Greeks, there has been in
    Western culture a tension between truth and art.
    Plato, typical of persuasive writers, stated his
    view that truth is absolute and art mere illusion
    by the use of a powerful rhetorical device in his
    Allegory of the Cave.
  • Platos metaphors dominate Western philosophy,
    providing subtle and elegant expression for his
    view that truth is absolute (Lakoff and Johnson,
    190)

10
The Objectivism Myth
  • Objectivism we understand the objects in our
    world in terms of categories and concepts. These
    categories and concepts correspond to the
    properties the objects have themselves and to the
    relationships among the objects.The sun for
    example has inherent properties independent of
    any beings it is hot, round, the source of
    light, and a distance away. We understand what
    the sun is in terms of these properties (Lakoff
    and Johnson, 186).
  • This is where LJ, and Platos methodology
    conflict.
  • For LJ, objectivism is a myth works
    dialectically with subjectivism but in separate
    domains (Lakoff and Johnson, 189). It is
    completely at odds with everything they argue in
    their book. However, for Plato, it is an
    important element in understanding truth.
    Regardless, this view of meaning and metaphor was
    existent during the times of the Greeks and a
    dominant factor in the understanding of
    dialogues.
  • According to Lakoff and Johnson, being objective
    is generally a good thing. Only objective
    knowledge is really knowledge. Only from an
    unconditional point of view can we really
    understand ourselves, others, and the external
    world (Platos natural, unchanging world). To be
    objective is to be rational to be subjective is
    to be irrational and give into emotions. For
    Plato, this ultimately disrupts his idea of a
    well ordered soul. (Lakoff and Johnson, 188).

11
The Metaphor of the Sun
  • Plato uses the sun as metaphor for the source of
    illumination, arguably, intellectual
    illumination, which he believed to be, the Form
    of the Good, which is sometimes interpreted as
    Platos notion of God (Jerry Clegg, 41).
  • For LJ, this is a symbolic metaphor. Like the
    dove is representational of the holy spirit, so
    is the sun of God.
  • The metaphor is about the nature and ultimate
    reality and how we can come to know it.
  • Represented in The Truman Show

12
Sun Metaphor Continued
  • Plato also says the sun and the Good (the object
    of knowledge) are both sources of generation
  • The sun - not only furnishes to visibles the
    power of visibility but it also provides for
    their generation and growth and nurture though it
    is not itself generation. In like manner, then -
    the objects of knowledge not only receive from
    the presence of the good their being known, but
    their very existence and essence is derived to
    them from it, though the good itself is not
    essence but still transcends essence in dignity
    and surpassing power. (509b)
  • This is one of the passages that leads some to
    think that the Good is, for Plato, God, though
    there is some dispute about this point. Many
    modern readers will find it puzzling that one and
    the same thing is called the Good, the source of
    being (the being of the forms, at least),
    something that somehow sheds light on all other
    forms.
  • From a Christian perspective, the sun is symbolic
    of earthly light created by God during the seven
    days of creation. The light symbolizes Gods awe
    and omnipotence. Light, from a Christian
    perspective may not necessarily refer to
    enlightenment like Plato believes, but
    nonetheless, it shares common characteristics
    with the idea of spirited intervention.

13
Plato the 21st Century The Truman Show
  • Parallels Between The Truman Show and Plato's
    Allegory of the Cave The movie, 'The Truman
    Show' is about a reality television show that has
    been created to document the life of a man who,
    adopted at birth by a television network, is
    tricked into believing that his life, his
    reality, is normal and the environment that he
    lives is real. It is set in a town called
    Seahaven, which is essentially a simulation of
    the real world similar enough to the outside
    world that the viewing audience can relate to it.
    The town is a television studio inside an
    enormous dome in which the weather, the sun, the
    sky, and all the actions of the citizens are
    directed by a team of special effects people. The
    entire show is directed and produced by the
    creator of the show, Christof. Truman Burbank,
    the star of the show, is the only one who doesn't
    know that he lives in a giant studio and is
    surrounded by an illusion of reality. The entire
    world watches Truman's movements twenty four
    hours a day, seven days a week through the use of
    thousands of miniature hidden cameras. The
    Truman Show closely parallels Plato's Allegory of
    the Cave. Initially, Truman is trapped in his own
    'cave - a film set or fictional island known as
    Seahaven. Trumans journey or ascension into the
    real world and into knowledge is similar to that
    of Platos cave dweller.

14
The Allegory of the Cave and The Truman Show
Final Thoughts
  • After watching the Truman Show it is difficult
    not to parallel it with Plato Allegory of the
    Cave both through its narrative structure and
    interpretation. Trumans world is metaphorically
    a cave, but literally it is presented to us as a
    dome. It is Truman (true man) who escapes the
    limitations and confinements of the cave.
    Ironically, the actors in Trumans artificial
    world and audiences who follow the show with
    religiosity are the ignorant masses, in Platonic
    terms, they are the chained prisoners within the
    cave. Truman is the only one who follows his
    bliss and answers the call to his archetypal
    existence. In the climactic scene, Truman, with
    his boat and his voyage of discovery, decides to
    sail to freedom This is the metaphorical
    interpretation of the prisoner leaving the cave
    and embarking on a journey of Enlightenment.
  • We do not see what happens after Truman leaves
    the cave. To be sure, the comparison to the
    Allegory stops there. In the Allegory when the
    prisoner/ freed man leaves the cave, he is
    confronted with the brilliant sun, a metaphor of
    goodness. For Plato goodness is the origin of
    everything that exists, archetype of goodness is
    one that all of humanity holds as central
    importance in one form or another. Platos hero
    adjusts to the sun, becomes enlightened and
    returns to the cave, only to deduct that masses
    must be ruled by few learned elite.
  • There is a cycle present it begins in the cave
    and ends in the cave. This cycle is
    representative of a metaphorical journey an
    individual embarks on to reach an enlightened
    end. He is present in the cave as a chained and
    ignorant human being, leaves the cave, becomes
    enlightened, and returns back to the cave to
    instruct the others of the natural world outside
    the artificial world.

15
Filmography
  • The Truman Show. Dir. Peter Weir. Perfs. Jim
    Carrey, Ed Harris, Natascha McElhone, Holland
    Taylor. Paramount Pictures, 1998.

16
Works Cited
  • Clegg, S. Jerry. The Structure of Platos
    Philosophy. London Bucknell University Press,
    1977.
  • Prof. Dielmann, Susan. Plato and Human Nature
    Lecture. September 19/2007.
  • Lakoff Johnson, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors we
    Live By. London University of Chicago Press,
    2003.
  • White P. Nicholas. Plato on Knowledge and
    Reality. Indiana Hackett Publishing Company,
    1976.
  • http//www.lcc.gatech.edu/murray/1102/metaphor_no
    tes.html
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