Brittany Rexroat 
Lacy Hanson I took Philosophy with Randy Harris last semester, and one of my favorite classes of that semester was where Randy explained Plato and his story of “The Cave”. From that class, I came to a different interpretation of the story than was explained in class and I thought I should share it to see what the rest of you think.
Remember the story from class. The men who are tied to the rocks can only see shadows and believe that everything is just a dark blob with a distorted figure. A man from outside the cave came in and released one of the prisoners, who learned that there was more to the world than what he had previously thought. When he went back to try to explain to the other men, they were simply incapable of opening their minds to what he was saying.
The lesson I took from this story wasn’t necessarily the lesson that says, “you cannot separate the perception from the perceiver,” although this is a very good interpretation. I also took away the idea that falls into Plato’s Elitist political hierarchy; the idea that some people are born to be ignorant, some people have the ability to become enlightened, but are not wise enough to enlighten others, and some people are born enlightened and have the ability to enlighten others.
This is where I connected it to his hierarchy – the person who is doomed to ignorance and has no hope of becoming enlightened is what he called the “laboring class”, or in this story, the men chained to the stone who are doomed to ignorance. He thought that people in that “lower class” are in that class for a reason, and the reason is that (according to Plato) they are simply not smart enough to do anything else. (Disclaimer: I in no way agree with Plato’s views of social class, I am simply explaining how I interpreted the story in relation to his Elitist political theory.) The man who was wise enough to become enlightened, but not wise enough to enlighten others is Plato’s “military class”, also know as the man who was released from the cave but could not enlighten his fellow prisoners. And last, there is the man from outside the cave who came in and released the prisoner. This is Plato’s famous “Philosopher King”. He is born enlightened and has enough wisdom to enlighten others and because of this innate wisdom, he should rule the world.
Although the “perceiver/perception” interpretation is very applicable, I also thought this was a very interesting way of looking at the story and applying it to Plato’s political/social hierarchical philosophy.
Bradye McQueen
12:00 am, 02.02.11
I love your attitude! A new take on Plato’s plilosophy. I connect with it also, and it is a very intersting way of looking at life and its possibilities, what we don’t even know is out there.
Taeyanna Pannell
12:25 pm, 02.02.11
I never even thought of this as another explanation for the allegory of the cave. This is new interpretation of it being a political meaning rather than the perceiving. When we read things we really should interpret them in more than one way and just assume that there is only one way to read into a story. This was a really good observation.
Candice Watson
1:20 pm, 02.02.11
Very interesting! I’m glad you shared this. This explanation does make a lot of sense. I’m like you, I don’t agree with Plato, but this does seem to fit his theory nicely. This makes me think from a Christian perspective who would fit under which category. Obviously God would be the one to enlighten others..humans who choose to believe would be the military class maybe unless given the Holy Spirit..and those doomed to ignorance would be those who never choose to believe and are enslaved to sin? Just some thoughts. It doesn’t fit exactly but just interesting to think about!
Lawton Pybus
3:07 pm, 02.02.11
Plato definitely had some interesting ideas about how society ought to be, to say the least. Personally, I think he takes an unnecessarily dim view on the potential of human beings. This whole being “born” into one class or another and being fated to it unto death is kind of hopeless when you think about it. As students interested in psychology, and presumably, helping others through psychology, we ought to think about how we can help others transcend their situations, and get them out of the mindset that they can’t, if need be.
Brady Campbell
5:32 pm, 02.02.11
How interesting that Plato had such perversion alongside his wisdom. I think it speaks to us all that we can achieve even more than he. Lawton is certainly correct through my sight, I find the greatest cause of disparity between potential and accomplishment to be one’s position on ability.
Sam Gibbs
8:01 pm, 02.02.11
I like your take on this. I enjoy reading and listening to other people’s views on this allegory. It seems that many people have different views on it, based on their own experiences. Very interesting outlook…