Examples Of Allegory Of The Cave By Socrates

Socrates’s Ideal State and Political Philosophy
Generally, why do people feel so disconnected to the political decisions made on their behalf by those who govern? In Book 7 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates outlines that this problem is not new and can be accurately shown in what he calls The Allegory of the Cave. The cave is a metaphorical situation whereby there are fictional prisoners in a fictional cave who only know the reality that is shown to them. According to Socrates, the prisoners are an example of people who do not live the life of philosopher and have never searched for universal truths. In other words, basically everybody. In order for them to escape the cave, Socrates says, the prisoners must live a life of a philosopher. Once they have escaped the metaphorical cave, they have philosophical enlightenment and a true understanding of the world and should be the ones who are in positions of power. This is Socrates “ideal state”. However, Socrates explains that those who are
Socrates notes that if political leaders start loving their job, they will forget about people who are inferior to themselves and should be made to partake in the life of a common citizen. If they do this, governance is then being ran out of necessity and therefore with the original intention of being a benefactor to all of those it governs. Socrates’s political philosophy seems as important now as it was in ancient Athens. However, it has been a considerable amount of time since Plato’s Republic was written and it would be interesting to see how this could be used in contemporary politics. Who knows, perhaps this means our future Prime Ministers should be made to work in a boring minimum wage job in order for them to descend back into the