The Allegory of the Cave: The Necessity of the Philosopher’s Descent

Abstract

The allegory of the cave is about the Platonic ideal of education. It has been received, interpreted, and transformed throughout the entire course of the history of philosophy. After some preliminary remarks on this philosophical image (I), I shall focus on the hotly debated descent of the philosopher back into the cave. On the one hand, I shall examine the issue with regard to the ontological distinction between being and becoming: the middle dialogue in question is not concerned with the ontological aspect of the descent, as I label the return from being to becoming, and thus does not solve the problem so formulated (II). On the other hand, I shall consider a well-known crux: the ethical and political aspect of the problem (III). To do so, I shall center on the concept of necessity (ἀνάγκη) that plays a prominent role in the Cave1 but nonetheless has not yet received due attention (IV). For this it is important to show in what way and to what extent we have to take “necessity” or “compulsion” seriously in the broader relevant context (500d4, 519e4, 520a8, 521b7, 540a-b); and also what kinds of necessity are at stake.