The Allegory of the Cave is a story from Book VII in the Greek philosopher Plato's masterpiece 'The Republic,' written in B.C.E. 517. It is probably Plato's best-known story, and its placement in 'The Republic' is significant. 'The Republic' is the centerpiece of Plato's philosophy, centrally concerned with how people acquire knowledge about beauty, justice, and good. The Allegory of the Cave uses the metaphor of prisoners chained in the dark to explain the difficulties of reaching and sustaining a just and intellectual spirit.

A Dialogue

The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this. In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk.

The allegory is set forth in a dialogue as a conversation between Socrates and his disciple Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon to imagine people living in a great underground cave, which is only open to the outside at the end of a steep and difficult ascent. Most of the people in the cave are prisoners chained facing the back wall of the cave so that they can neither move nor turn their heads. A great fire burns behind them, and all the prisoners can see are the shadows playing on the wall in front of them. They have been chained in that position all their lives.

There are others in the cave, carrying objects, but all the prisoners can see of them is their shadows. Some of the others speak, but there are echoes in the cave that make it difficult for the prisoners to understand which person is saying what.

Freedom From Chains

Socrates then describes the difficulties a prisoner might have adapting to being freed. When he sees that there are solid objects in the cave, not just shadows, he is confused. Instructors can tell him that what he saw before was an illusion, but at first, he'll assume his shadow life was the reality.

Eventually, he will be dragged out into the sun, be painfully dazzled by the brightness, and stunned by the beauty of the moon and the stars. Once he becomes accustomed to the light, he will pity the people in the cave and want to stay above and apart from them, but think of them and his own past no longer. The new arrivals will choose to remain in the light, but, says Socrates, they must not. Because for true enlightenment, to understand and apply what is goodness and justice, they must descend back into the darkness, join the men chained to the wall, and share that knowledge with them.

The Allegorical Meaning

In the next chapter of 'The Republic,' Socrates explains what he meant, that the cave represents the world, the region of life which is revealed to us only through the sense of sight. Quake champions release date. The ascent out of the cave is the journey of the soul into the region of the intelligible.

The path to enlightenment is painful and arduous, says Plato, and requires that we make four stages in our development.

1. Imprisonment in the cave (the imaginary world)
2. Release from chains (the real, sensual world)
3. Ascent out of the cave (the world of ideas)
4. The way back to help our fellows

Resources and Further Reading

• Buckle, Stephen. “Descartes, Plato and the Cave.” Philosophy, vol. 82, no. 320, Apr. 2007, pp. 301-337. JSTOR.
• Juge, Carole. “The Road to the Sun They Cannot See: Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Oblivion, and Guidance in Cormac McCarthy's ‘The Road'.' The Cormac McCarthy Journal, vol. 7, no. 1, 2009, pp. 16-30. JSTOR.
• Ursic, Marko, and Andrew Louth. “The Allegory of the Cave: Transcendence in Platonism and Christianity.” Hermathena, no. 165, 1998, pp. 85-107. JSTOR.

Director returns to his native, Wartorn Syria to follow a dedicated team of female doctors who tirelessly treat casualties in an underground hospital while battling systemic sexism. Shot from 2016 to 2018, The Cave belongs to the top rank of war films. Syrian director takes us to a subterranean landscape that feels akin to the post-apocalyptic world of (1979). With life too dangerous above ground, survivors create a network of secret tunnels under the city of Ghouta, near Damascus, for an underground hospital maintained by women doctors. In contrast to the many Syrian documentaries made from cellphone footage or shaky cameras, takes great care to visualize the landscape and its memorable occupants with artful cinematography. For anyone who feels jaded by Syria coverage, this work stands apart.

The heart of the film is Dr. Amani, a young Syrian woman operating in unimaginable conditions with great humor and fortitude. When not tending to. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the last Academy Awards, The Cave is another hard-hitting account of the humanitarian crisis created in the wake of Syrian Civil War, and concerns a group of doctors as they try to save civilian lives with limited medical resources in an underground makeshift hospital. Directed by Feras Fayyad, his documentary offers ample evidence of war crimes committed by Bashar Regime against its own citizens, including use of chemical weapons, but the presentation isn't up to the mark.

Several segments look as if they were rehearsed before filming, and are lacking the spontaneity that makes them click. Amidst the daily airstrikes & bombings, it also sheds light on the systemic sexism as even in an environment where death lurks above, a man feels an obligation to tell a female doctor why she should be at home instead of trying to save human lives. But this element is also later overplayed by the director as if he just wanted to drive a point home. Like any documentary covering the subject of war, The Cave is graphic, disturbing & uncomfortable.

Yet unlike most Syrian documentaries, it has a more polished & refined quality, almost like a feature film shot in an active war zone. It is also way more focused on a single person than the collective effort yet unlike For Sama, it is lacking that raw, personal touch. Overall, The Cave is as gripping as it is heartbreaking but its impact is rather short lived. There are some tense moments that are expertly documented, including the gas attack that's just soul-shattering, but its narrative lacks a compelling structure and becomes repetitive after a while. Bringing to light the brutal reality of doctors operating in labyrinth of caves beneath a war-torn city, The Cave is worth a shot.