Cave and Apology

Socrates was a philosophical man who lived his life asking prying question in order to guide others to the truth. This manner along with his knowledge and other traits led him to be put on trial for failing to recognize the gods represented by the state, creating new gods, and corrupting Athens' youth. Soon after the trail, Plato wrote an account of the speech that Socrates used to defend himself, titled The Apology. In order to clarify the ideas communicated in The Apology, Plato, a close friend of Socrates, took the liberty of creating a dialogue between his brother, Glaucon, and Socrates. This dialogue found in The Republic, is known as The Cave Analogy, further explained the reasoning behind Socrates' beliefs and actions. Overall, the cave represents real knowledge in the world compared to the fallacies society presents. The inside of the cave signifies a bell jar, encouraging naivety and ignorance, while the truths of the outside world linger just on the other side of the cave walls. The enlightened men walk around the perimeter and only through them can prisoners of the cave escape to freedom and truth. Via The Cave Analogy, Plato attempts to prove Socrates' points made throughout The Apology by demonstrating that Socrates is one of those enlightened outsiders who has successfully escaped from the cave, therefore making him capable of leading other unaware men remaining in the cave out as a result of educating them.

Plato titles his account of Socrates' speech The Apology, however, the modern understanding of the word is far from the objective of the speech. The Greek word "apologia" translates into a speech made in defense, meaning Socrates was not apologizing for his actions, but supporting his so-called crimes. Socrates defended himself, saying that his wisdom was intended to be shared with others. He explained, "the unexamined life is not worth living" (Plato, The Apology, 38a). He had attempted to spread his knowledge through reflective questioning aimed at the wise and believed that to be the real reason he had been put on trial.

After the trial and Plato's recounting of Socrates' speech in the form of The Apology, Plato further clarified his friend's ideas through a passage in The Republic titled The Cave Analogy. The Cave Analogy has many parts to it; the main picture is a group of prisoners who have been held hostage their entire lives inside the cave walls. Although there is an entrance to the cave, they are unable to see it because of how they have been trapped. As objects pass the entrance they cast a shadow on the wall of the cave that the prisoners are fixed watching. Outside, the sun is shining, but there is no evidence of the sun inside the cave as the shadows seen by the prisoners are cast on the wall by way of fire. Due to the fact that the captives have never seen the outside world, the shadows on the wall are erroneously viewed as reality. "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" (Plato, The Republic). Even with proof, these men are incapable of grasping the concept of what is real, as it is nothing they have ever known.

He references a prophecy given by the oracle at Delphi to Chaerephon, a friend of Socrates. Chaerephon had inquired about Socrates' wisdom. "He went to Delphi at one time and ventured to ask the oracleÐ'...he asked if any man was wiser than I, and the Pythian replied that no one was wiser" (Plato, The Apology, 21a). Plato describes that Socrates was perplexed, as he was sure that he had no unique or focused knowledge, but knew that the oracle could not be wrong. Aiming to understand the oracle's statement, Socrates began questioning Athenian men who were considered to be very wise. The politicians made him realize that although they were wise, they seemed to know very little. When he questioned the poets, he realized they wrote beautiful works but their wisdom was only apparent in their inspiration, as they were unable to explain their work. Although these poets believed they could speak on all subjects, they proved to be completely incapable. Socrates concluded that was the issue with all these men, they did possess immense wisdom regarding their craft, but wrongly believed that they were able to speak intelligently on other matters that they in reality knew nothing about. Socrates says, "I found that those who had the highest reputation were nearly the most deficient, while those who were thought to be inferior were more knowledgeable" (Plato, The Apology, 22a). He avowed that he would rather be aware of the fact that he knows nothing, as opposed to being confident about an artificial sense of wisdom and realized that the knowledge of your own level of wisdom is great wisdom in itself.

Realizing the oracle was correct in his assessment of his great wisdom, Socrates recognized he had a duty to perform. In order to take advantage of his wisdom to the full extent, Socrates deemed it his responsibility to spread this wisdom. He achieved this by questioning men who considered themselves wise and ultimately exposed their ignorance. However, Socrates explained, that his questioning was not well accepted, "I acquired much unpopularity, of a kind that is hard to deal with and is a heavy burden; many slanders came from these people and a reputation for wisdom, for in each case the bystanders thought that I myself possessed the wisdom that I proved that my interlocutor did not have (Plato, The Apology, 22e). Many men believed that Socrates had remarkable knowledge in numerous fields but Socrates denied it, saying, "I am very conscious that I am not wise at all" (Plato, The Apology, 21b). He attested that the wisest of men are those who recognize their wisdom to be lacking, and that understanding was what made him the wisest of them all.

Although his behavior brought him respect from the youth of Athens, the older crowd tended to detest him as he caused them excess embarrassment. Socrates claimed that the accusations against him were invented purely as vengeance for the humiliation he