Book VII of Plato’s Republic begins with the allegory of the cave. Socrates describes a situation in which men reside from their childhood in an underground cave-dwelling, their legs and necks bound in chains which prevent them from turning their heads around, enabling them to only look in front of them. At a distance, a little higher up, a fire burns, and between the fire and the prisoners, is a slightly elevated road with a wall built along it, something like a screen used by puppeteers. Men carry along this road, all kinds of articles. The prisoners in the cave can see nothing but each other, and the shadows of these various objects thrown by the fire, on the wall that they are facing. All their lives, they take these shadows to be the real things.
Then one of them is released, and forced to ascend out of the cave and into the sunlight. He is too dazed at first to see anything, and also perplexed when he is told that all these objects before him are the real objects and the shadows that he had seen in the cave were mere phantoms of the real things. Soon his eyes are able to adapt to the light, and he is able to perceive things as they really are. If, in such a situation, this person was once again compelled to return to the darkness of the cave, would he not have considerable trouble distinguishing between the dark shadows thrown on the wall, asks Socrates.
Socrates compares this upward ascent into the light as the upward journey of the soul into the world of knowledge, where the Form of the good, the beautiful, and the true can be seen. Education is therefore, the manner in which the soul is taught to turn around from the darkness to the light, from ‘that which is becoming’ to the ‘brightest blaze of being’, which Socrates declares as being the ‘true philosophy’. Thus the ideal governors of the city must be those who are willing to make the upward journey and perceive the truth; and having done so, descend again to the prisoners to share their knowledge with them. Having received a better and more thorough education, these philosophers must descend to dwell with the inhabitants of the city, and must be accustomed to see and distinguish between the objects of darkness because they have seen ‘the truth of what is beautiful and just and good’.
Socrates goes on to say that the guardians of the city must be ‘athletes of war’, and therefore the education that they receive must not be without use to warriors. In addition to gymnastics and harmonics, he suggests that the guardians be educated in Arithmetic and Calculation, Geometry (both plane and solid) and Astronomy. These subjects provide the ‘prelude to the real melody which is to be studied’, played by Dialectic. Dialectics enable the philosopher to explain the essence of things, and to define the Form of the good with intelligible reason.
These studies, according to Socrates, must be assigned to only ‘the steadiest, the bravest and, as far as possible, the best looking.’ Not only should such men have sturdy morals but they must also be suited to this scheme of education. Such a man should also have ‘a good memory, an unchangeable purpose, and an unflagging love of work.’ These preliminary studies must be introduced to the guardians when they are boys, as compulsory subjects of study, but only after they have completed the first two or three years of necessary training in Gymnastics.
It is sufficient if the student perseveres in constant study for twice the amount of time he spends in physical training, amounting to approximately five years. During this period the students will be observed and their proficiency in various fields assessed, and in their twentieth year, those who have been selected, will receive the privilege of bringing together all that they have studied, in order to achieve an understanding of their relationship with one another and with the nature of Being. And when they are past thirty, the best among them will be selected and they will be forced to take command in war and other such offices pertaining to the young, in order to acquire practical experience. After fifteen more years, at the age of about fifty, the ones who have come safely through, must devote their time towards philosophy, but when the time comes, they must also undertake the responsibility of directing politics and being rulers for the sake of their city. Socrates goes on to add that all that he has said applies no more to men than to women, ‘so long as we have women of adequate natural gifts.’
He concludes the chapter by saying that children above ten years should be taken out of their home environment and trained in the customs and laws enumerated by him.
No comments:
Post a Comment