Opposition to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Had Plato had the gift of eternal life and should he still be living today after having viewed the intellectual development of man beyond his time, I have no doubt many if not all of his theories would have been revised. One downside to the passage of time is that even the most brilliant philosopher of an age can only but speculate about how their ideas will fit into society generations to come. If anyone had the capacity to imagine the technological age centuries before it arrived, I’m sure it would have been Plato, however I highly doubt even his brilliant mind would have envisioned the modern day and age.

Likely, as he began urging people to step out of the “cave of ignorance”, had he seen what the world would come to by the 21st century, he wouldn’t have bothered. In his view, society today would be evolving it’s way backwards and people moving back into the underworld after having tasted and forgotten about the air above. Plato would not be please. Then again, if he lived today, he would most likely be to caught up in the latest season of some reality show and have no time to admonish our ignorant behavior. Oh how the great have fallen.

The cave dwellers watched pictures intently as though they were reality. In truth, they were nothing but light toying with the eyes. Mediated society watches pictures and, if not duped into believing they are real, certainly wish they were reality, that or simply do not care that they are not. Is there any difference between the two? The answer lies in the motivation. The cave dwellers knew nothing but that the images and opinions existed, and so it was natural that they perceived them as reality. Modern society knows that there is something more substantial than images and opinions, but they choose to worship the insubstantial instead, perhaps finding it more comfortable.

Creations of light are not always insubstantial, and in cases where they reflect important issues it does not always matter how solid they are. However, most today, when given the choice of watching the image of no consequence, or the image which actually mirrors life, they will choose the former. There must be some sort of motivation for ignoring the truthful representations of the world, and of all motivating factors on earth, the one humans love the most is pleasure. It would not be unreasonable then to assume that when modern humans choose to ignore the thoughtful for the empty, they are doing so because the empty provides more enjoyment. Along these lines, then, ignorance very well may be bliss to those individuals.