The Allegory of the Cave

By: Plato

Narrated by: Adriel Brandt

Widely considered one of the fathers of Western philosophy, Plato wrote "The Allegory of the Cave", part of his most important and influential pieces of work in Republic, in order to examine, discuss, and compare the effects of education (or lack thereof), human nature and the human condition, and philosophy as a whole. This simplistic and ingenious allegory casts light on society’s naiveté and ignorance, even today.

Public Domain (P)2018 Museum Audiobooks

Surprisingly Interesting Audiobook

The language is somewhat difficult to get use to, but the greatest challenge is attempting to view these writings in the nature/time Era that which they were created. Therefore, I would conclude that I only understood and grasped approximately 60% of the intended message. Even still, it's quite inspiring that the destruction of life as we know it is slowly but surely following the sequences laid out in this book. Inspiring and Concerning. All in all, I will more than likely reread/re-listen to this Allegory two times more before making a complete judgment on it. Lastly, as a lover of mathematics, I felt weirdly validated when two scholars centered the basis of Intelligence, Success, and Godly Foundations around Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astronomy. I suppose Literature, History, Geography, and Arts are seemingly rather unimportant in their eyes. Cheers!

-Rico

Revelatory wise insight of political philosophy !

This is focused on Plato’s The Republic Book VII The Allegory of the Cave & Book VIII Plato’s theory of the 5 regimes from best - worst, we see a dialogue primarily between Plato’s notable teacher the most well-known ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, in dialogue with an older brother of Plato named Glaucon, we see the theory of forms: basically, the bottom of this triangle are those who are chained prisoners (the ignorant), there is a flame inside which casts shadows of these images on the wall. The ignorant prisoners assume their own perception is reality. This is a feature of all who dwell in the cave only seeing the shadows on the cave wall cast from a flame, all the cave prisoners are cloaked in ignorance, not perceiving reality as true knowledge. The allegory of the shadows on the cave wall
Are false beliefs as our illusory perception. Next is when a prisoner escapes from the cave, this denotes the seeker or philosopher who strives for knowledge & understanding of the true nature of reality. The sunlit world outside the cave, symbolizes the realm of true knowledge & understanding, leading to the journey outside the cave, the allegory here from darkness to light is moving out from ignorance into intellectual enlightenment. It is said, that when the cave prisoner escapes & learns true reality as the other philosophers have a duty to return to that cave to teach more cave prisoners, solid education is not simply a career path, but the education of the ignorant is a duty of the enlightened philosophers. Great segue into part 2 of this audiobook (Book 8) these 5 governmental regimes, they focus on 4. Because the greatest political regime is an Aristocracy, which means the political leaders are guided by virtue & wisdom. Essentially the best form of government is run by just & virtuous philosopher kings, the political regimes that Aristocracy devolves into, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, Tyranny. I see some of the ancient Greeks laid an early blueprint for things like Gnosticism & later as the earliest Calvinistic theology based on platonic Augustinianism.

Timeless Classic

This timeless classic must be reread and pondered.
Thankfully, its brevity allows its wisdom to be revisited multiple times a day.

The allegory challenges us to consider the shadows on our own cave walls and encourages us to seek the light of truth beyond our perceived reality. It reminds us that our understanding of the world is limited by our experiences and that true knowledge requires continuous questioning and learning. May we endure the discomfort of all true light, and be counted among the number dwellings in the halls of the blessed.

Old English language. Not an Easy Read

Old English language difficult to comprehend need time to really research the terms. very old vocabulary used.

Reads like the ramblings of a schizophrenic

Let’s descend into madness together as we listen to a 2 hour stream of consciousness