- 'And if he were forcibly dragged up the steep and rugged ascent of the cave and not let go till he had been dragged out into the sunlight, would he not experience pain, and so struggle against this? And would he not, as soon as he emerged into the light, his eyes dazzled, be unable to see any of the things he was now told were unhidden?'
- 'No, at least not at first.
- 'He would need, I believe, to first become accustomed to the light before he could see things in the upper world. First he would find it easier to look at shadows, next at the reflections of men and other objects in water, and later on at the things themselves. After that he would find it easier to observe the sky at night and the heavenly dome, and to look at the light of the moon and stars rather than at the sun and its light by day.
- 'Of course
- 'Finally, I believe, he would be able to look directly at the sun itself, and gaze at it as it is in itself, without using reflections in water or any other medium.
- 'Necessarily.
- 'Later on he would come to the conclusion that it is the sun which produces the changing seasons and years and controls everything in the visible world, and that it was also at bottom responsible for what he and his fellow prisoners used to see in the cave.
- 'That is the next conclusion he would obviously reach.
- 'And when he remembered his first home, and what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow prisoners, don't you think he would feel himself fortunate on account of his change of circumstance, and be sorry for them?'
- 'Very much so.’
- 'And if the cave-dwellers had established, down there in the cave, certain prizes and distinctions for those who were most keen-sighted in seeing the passing shadows, and who were best able to remember what came before, and after, and simultaneously with what, thus best able to predict future appearances in the shadow-world, will our released prisoner hanker after these prizes or envy this power or honour? Won't he be more likely to feel, as Homer says, that he would far rather be 'a serf in the house of some landless man'. Would he not rather put up with anything, than take truth as they do and live like them?'
- 'Yes, I believe he would prefer anything to a life like theirs.'
Plato, Republic, Book VII, Paragraphs 515e–516e. Mentioned in Heidegger, M. (2002). The Essence of Truth (T. Sadler, Trans.). New York, Continuum. 2002
