Book Seven – “Going Higher”

In our lives, we each desire to take ourselves to something higher. We want to acquire better status, more wealth, or a better life in general. We are born with our heads looking up to what we can achieve.

What really is the highest state worth achieving? Are material things going to give us the most amount of joy or are they a waste of time? Socrates addresses these issues in Book Seven of Plato’s Republic. Through the use of the very well known allegory of the cave, Socrates talks about how we are moving to achieve the ideal state of being (i.e. wisdom and truth.)

Right off the bat in Book Seven Socrates jumps into the allegory. There is a cave. There are men that are forced to look at the back of the cave with their heads locked into position. There is a fire behind them. As people pass in front of the fire and behind the prisoners, they cast a shadow. The prisoners can only see the shadows so assume it is reality.

Socrates then raises the question of what would happen if a prisoner was released and allowed to see the light. He says, “Don’t you suppose he’d be at a loss and believe that what was seen before is truer than what is now shown?” It would take some time for the prisoner to fully understand this new truth, which has just been revealed to him.

This allegory of the cave is meant to represent us. We are all in the cave and sitting in darkness. We think that truth is the shadows in front of us. We need to be taken to something higher.

We achieve this ascent through seeking truth. We seek the truth through education and finding new ways to exercise our ability to reason. Socrates says, “…this power is in the soul of each, and the instrument with which each learns – just as an eye is not able to turn toward the light from the dark without the whole body – must be turned around from that which is coming into being together with the whole soul until it is able to endure looking at that which is and the brightest part of that which is.”

As founders of the city, they have to make sure that the best nature of the people is being supported. The city is not there for each of the members to go their own way. It is for the people to live together in harmony. They together must seek truth and justice. After spending some time with the common people, the founders will be able to “see ten thousand times better than the men there, and you’ll know what each of the phantoms is, and of what it is a phantom, because you have seen the truth about fair, just and good things.”

Giving the guardians and the philosopher kings the proper education is a key part of their ascent to knowledge and wisdom. If they are going to be guarding and leading the city, they need to be both great in fighting and great in knowledge. Socrates says, “…our guardian is both warrior and philosopher.”

All too often in our lives we embrace things that in the end turn out to be nothing but shadows. We think material possesions are going to help us to achieve this higher state, which we desire. According to Socrates, it is through being trained well and exercising our mind that we can achieve the level of intellect, knowledge, and wisdom.