Plato's Cave Allegory, which appears at the beginning of Book 7 of the Republic (Rep 7.514a - 7.521a) is arguably one of the most important passages of Western literature. It deserves careful reading.
Here is the entire section, from the public domain translation of 19th century classicist, Benjamin Jowett. I've added Stephanus numbers for ease of reference. Links are supplied to the Greek text at the Perseus Project.
In the future, commentary may be added. For now, a few points will suffice:
From: Plato, The Republic, Book VII (Benjamin Jowett, Tr.)
Socrates is speaking with his friend, Glaucon.
[514a]
Greek
Socrates.
And now, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or
unenlightened: —
Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards
the light
and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and
have their legs and
necks chained so that they cannot move,
[514b]
Greek
and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round
their heads.
Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and
the prisoners
there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the
way, like the
screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the
puppets.
Glaucon. I see.
Socrates. And do you see men passing along the wall carrying
[514c]
Greek
all sorts of vessels, and statues and
[515a]
Greek
figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear
over the wall?
Some of them are talking, others silent.
Glaucon. You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.
S. Like ourselves; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
G. True; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?
[515b]
Greek
S.
And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see
the shadows?
G. Yes.
S. And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?
G. Very true.
S. And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?
G. No question.
[515c]
Greek
S.
To them the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
G. That is certain.
S. And now look again, and see what will naturally follow it^ the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, --
[515d]
Greek
what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is
pointing to the objects
as they pass and requiring him to name them, -- will he not be perplexed? Will
he not fancy that
the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown
to him?
G. Far truer.
S. And if he is compelled to look straight at the light,
[515e]
Greek
will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and
take in the objects
of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer
than the things
which are now being shown to him?
G. True.
S. And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he 's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated?
[516a]
Greek
When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able
to see anything at
all of what are now called realities.
G. Not all in a moment.
S. He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light
[516b]
Greek
of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and
the stars by
night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?
G. Certainly.
S. Last of he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.
G. Certainly.
S. He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world,
[516c]
Greek
and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been
accustomed to
behold?
G. Clearly, he would first see the sun and then reason about him.
S. And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow- prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?
G. Certainly, he would.
S. And if they were in the habit of conferring honours among themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after,
[516d]
Greek
and which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as
to the
future, do you think that he would care for such honours and glories, or envy
the possessors of
them? Would he not say with Homer,
Better to be the poor servant of a poor master,
and to endure anything, rather than think as they do
[516e]
Greek
and live after their manner?
G. Yes, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner.
S. Imagine once more such an one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?
G. To be sure.
S. And if there were a contest, and he had to compete
[517a]
Greek
in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the den,
while his
sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which
would be
needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable) would he
not be
ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his
eyes; and that
it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose
another and lead him
up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to
death.
G. No question.
S. This entire allegory you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument [i.e., the Divided Line analogy];
[517b]
Greek
the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and
you will not
misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the
soul into the
intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have
expressed whether
rightly or wrongly God knows.
But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort;
[517c]
Greek
and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things
beautiful and right, parent
of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate
source of reason and truth
in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act
rationally, either in
public or private life must have his eye fixed.
G. I agree, as far as I am able to understand you.
S. Moreover, you must not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever hastening
[517d]
Greek
into the upper world where they desire to dwell; which desire of theirs is very
natural, if our
allegory may be trusted.
G. Yes, very natural.
S. And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice,
[517e]
Greek
and is endeavouring to meet the conceptions of those who have never yet seen
absolute justice?
G. Anything but surprising.
S. Any one who has common sense
[518a]
Greek
will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise
from two causes,
either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true
of the mind's eye,
quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any
one whose
vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh;
he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light,
and is unable to see
because unaccustomed to the dark,
[518b]
Greek
or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he
will count the
one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or,
if he have a mind to
laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more
reason in this than in
the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den.
G. That is a very just distinction.
S. But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say
[518c]
Greek
that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like
sight into blind
eyes.
G. They undoubtedly say this.
S. Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being,
[518d]
Greek
or in other words, of the good.
G. Very true.
S. And must there not be some art which will effect conversion in the easiest and quickest manner; not implanting the faculty of sight, for that exists already, but has been turned in the wrong direction, and is looking away from the truth?
G. Yes, such an art may be presumed.
S. And whereas the other so-called virtues of the soul seem to be akin to bodily qualities,
[518e]
Greek
for even when they are not originally innate they can be implanted later by
habit and exercise,
the of wisdom more than anything else contains a divine element which always
remains, and by
this conversion is rendered useful and profitable;
[519a]
Greek
or, on the other hand, hurtful and useless. Did you never observe the narrow
intelligence flashing
from the keen eye of a clever rogue — how eager he is, how clearly his paltry
soul sees the way
to his end; he is the reverse of blind, but his keen eyesight is forced into the
service of evil, and
he is mischievous in proportion to his cleverness.
G. Very true.
S. But what if there had been a circumcision of such natures in the days of their youth; and they had been severed from those sensual pleasures,
[519b]
Greek
such as eating and drinking, which, like leaden weights, were attached to them
at their birth, and
which drag them down and turn the vision of their souls upon the things that are
below — if, I
say, they had been released from these impediments and turned in the opposite
direction, the
very same faculty in them would have seen the truth as keenly as they see what
their eyes are
turned to now.
G. Very likely.
S. Yes; and there is another thing which is likely. or rather a necessary inference from what has preceded, that neither the uneducated and uninformed of the truth,
[519c]
Greek
nor yet those who never make an end of their education, will be able ministers
of State; not the
former, because they have no single aim of duty which is the rule of all their
actions, private as
well as public; nor the latter, because they will not act at all except upon
compulsion, fancying
that they are already dwelling apart in the islands of the blest.
G. Very true.
S. Then the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all — they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good;
[519d]
Greek
but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they
do now.
G. What do you mean?
S. I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labours and honours, whether they are worth having or not.
G. But is not this unjust? Ought we to give them a worse life, when they might have a better?
[519e]
Greek
S.
You have again forgotten, my friend, the intention of the legislator, who did
not aim at
making any one class in the State happy above the rest; the happiness was to be
in the whole
State, and he held the citizens together by persuasion and necessity, making
them benefactors of
the State,
[520a]
Greek
and therefore benefactors of one another; to this end he created them, not to
please themselves,
but to be his instruments in binding up the State.
G. True, I had forgotten.
S. Observe, Glaucon, that there will be no injustice in compelling our philosophers to have a care and providence of others;
[520b]
Greek
we shall explain to them that in other States, men of their class are not
obliged to share in the
toils of politics: and this is reasonable, for they grow up at their own sweet
will, and the
government would rather not have them. Being self-taught, they cannot be
expected to show
any gratitude for a culture which they have never received. But we have brought
you into the
world to be rulers of the hive, kings of yourselves and of the other citizens,
[520c]
Greek
and have educated you far better and more perfectly than they have been
educated, and you are
better able to share in the double duty. Wherefore each of you, when his turn
comes, must go
down to the general underground abode, and get the habit of seeing in the dark.
When you have
acquired the habit, you will see ten thousand times better than the inhabitants
of the den, and
you will know what the several images are, and what they represent, because you
have seen the
beautiful and just and good in their truth.
And thus our State which is also yours will be a reality, and not a dream only,
and will be
administered in a spirit unlike that of other States, in which men fight with
one another
[520d]
Greek
about shadows only and are distracted in the struggle for power, which in their
eyes is a great
good. Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant
to govern is
always the best and most quietly governed, and the State in which they are most
eager, the
worst.
G. Quite true.
S. And will our pupils, when they hear this, refuse to take their turn at the toils of State, when they are allowed to spend the greater part of their time with one another in the heavenly light?
[520e]
Greek
G.
Impossible; for they are just men, and the commands which we impose upon them
are just; there can be no doubt that every one of them will take office as a
stern necessity, and
not after the fashion of our present rulers of State.
S. Yes, my friend; and there lies the point. You must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life
[521a]
Greek
than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well-ordered State; for only in
the State which
offers this, will they rule who are truly rich, not in silver and gold, but in
virtue and wisdom,
which are the true blessings of life. Whereas if they go to the administration
of public affairs,
poor and hungering after their own private advantage, thinking that hence they
are to snatch the
chief good, order there can never be; for they will be fighting about office,
and the civil and
domestic broils which thus arise will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and
of the whole State.
Annas, Julia. Understanding and the Good: Sun, Line, and Cave. In: Julia Annas, An Introduction to Plato's Republic, Oxford, 1981, pp. 242–271. Repr. in: Richard Kraut (ed.), Plato's Republic: Critical Essays, Oxford, 1997 (pp. 143–168).
Bloom, Allen David (translator). The Republic of Plato. 2nd ed. New York, 1991.
Jowett, Benjamin (translator). The Dialogues of Plato. 3rd ed. In Five Volumes. Vol. 3. London, 1892.
Reeve, C. D. C. (translator). The Republic of Plato. Indianapolis, 2004.
Shorey, Paul (translator). Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6. Cambridge, Mass., 1935 (repr. 1969).
Waterfield, Robin (translator). The Republic of Plato. Oxford, 1993 (repr. 1998).
Uebersax, John S. (2006). "Plato's Cave Allegory". Online article. Retrieved from http://john-uebersax.com/plato/plato2.htm on mmm dd, yyyy.