During the eighteenth century, the term "enlightenment" was used frequently to refer to a morally upright and logical movement. Following human evolution through different reforms was its main goal. Plato conveys the idea that studying philosophy is the only way for a person to develop an appreciation of what is honorable and just in the "Allegory of the Cave." Making "philosopher kings" or "kings philosophers" was the only way to prevent bad things from occurring in society. Plato has been able to support the view and then attempt to identify potential issues with the justification. Additionally, he has the ability to characterize the difficulties individuals encounter and offer solutions. Some major philosophical suppositions of Plato have been
presented in the “Allegory of the Cave.” Plato had confidence that people’s intellects only exposed a fake world and it was possible to detain a real world if one is enlightened. He believed that individuals who were enlightened had a responsibility to the society as a whole. Plato perceived individuals who were truly wise as “philosopher kings,” and they were the rulers of societies that were good.
In J.M. Coetzee's “Waiting for the Barbarians,” the judge is somehow enlightened that individuals who fall outside the Empire are not the people who residents of the town identify to be. Through his intimate encounters with a barbarian girl, he comes to the realization that there is more than meets the eye. Ousted by his fellow townsman, he longs for the barbarian girl whom he had sexual encounters with, realizing that she's smarter than he actually thought. His treasonous acts could be a reference to how the magistrate became Enlightened. He escapes his prison, which could be a close similarity to the cave, in search for meaning.
In Waiting for the Barbarians, the judge has two significant priorities; writing true history concerning hi settlement and make history by upholding a valid and useful reputation. Socrates argues how the soul has the authority and ability to learn. This can be described using the manner in which the inmate’s eyes were unable to adjust from darkness to the sun when he was freed. Therefore, this can be used to symbolically illustrate how tools of knowledge can be achieved if the soul is changed from “the world of becoming” into “the world of being” and accept to withstand whatever challenges that come along the way (Plato, pg.4). It is evident that something is seen clearly if sight is set there. Therefore, it is essential that people set their view on right things if he or she wishes to be enlightened.
Enlightenment has changed over time; during the exploration of the Pacific by the European, the exploration was associated with goals of enlightenment that supported the acquirement of knowledge (Gascoigne, pg. 131). It was further linked with wealth pursuit as there was a possibility of experience coming with other sources of wealth. As per Plato, ordinary individuals do not have the knowledge and proficiency of sensations required whenever a person wants to make decisions that are knowledgeable and sensible concerning different administration regulations and practices. He considers that their personal welfares compel many people. In J.M. Coetzee’s “Waiting for the Barbarians” European innovativeness during the twentieth century established a response to ancient calamities. The disasters were linked to the modernism of projects whose dreams of enlightenment had become nightmares. Enlightenment that was utilized in the colonialism project was s conceptual disguise justifying the greedy mistreatment of territories that were occupied.
Mass media has the capacity to liberate people given that they desire for a future where enlightenment will be widespread and never to disband into ignorance (Brantlinger, pg. 248). The knowledge of “philosopher kings” is as a result of the superior comprehension of truth that they have. Socrates of the “Allegory of the Cave” defines the procedure through which the superior comprehension of truth is achieved. People require truth in all the actions/activities they undertake, and they should learn to live with it. The “philosopher kings” always struggle, sacrifice, and yearn for enlightenment. Socrates gives a description how challenging it is for prisoners may adjust once they get freed. Caves prevent prisoners form developing their knowledge and becoming enlightened; the occupants of the cave are happy being in the darkness of the cave walls and do not wish to be freed someday.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” provides a theory concerning the human perception concept. Plato writes a dialogue his mentor Socrates had with Glaucon, his brother and eventually asserts that knowledge which people advance through their mind is just an opinion. Plato further says that for people to get real knowledge, it should be as a result of philosophical. Through his work “Allegory of the Cave”, he has been able to differentiate people who have the right sensory knowledge and those who perceive actual reality thereby gain factual knowledge. The “philosopher kings” look for enlightenment and once they gain knowledge, their obligation becomes returning to the caves and educating/enlightening ignorant individuals.
The setting of Plato’s story is a cave where inmates have lived from the time they were born. The convicts are bound and manacled such that they can only see in a single direction; towards the stonewall. At the back of the inmates, there is a walkway that has been raised and the fire lit. Whenever people walk along, shadows get created and they can be seen at the stonewall. The shadow is the only thing the inmates have an idea of, and with such, they lack proper enlightenment such that they are compelled to trust that the reality shadows are actual.
We should have self-reliance in individuals and their capacity to oversee community fairness using the knowledge they possess. Elusive enlightenment contained in overall epistemologies such as philosophy and other worthiness of the society entitles an autonomous community (Hartoonian, pg. 142). Philosophy plays a significant obligation in educating people. Through theory, it is possible to establish perceptions and criticisms concerning important character and values of people thus assisting us to stop destroying the understanding and cultural possessions in our ownership. One inmate gets frees and leaves the cave. The fact that he has not interacted with the sun blinds him at first before his eyes adjust naturally. Life outside the café seemed unrealistic, and he is shocked with all that is happening. He only perceived life in the cave as reality, after he realized his new environment he renounces his earlier belief about life. The inmate now regards the sun as the source of life. Later he returns to the prison to enlighten his fellow inmates of the discoveries he made while outside the cave. Given that the inmates lacked the knowledge of what the outside looks like, they did not believe and even threatened to kill him.
Socrates acclaims that the inmate who was freed is likely to pity his colleagues who remained in prison. The pity is because he felt the convicts did not have the encounter with real life. They are used to seeing shows that have been projected before them. To prisoners, anything outside the caves was not real; some preferred suffering instead of living in a sad way. Socrates contends that it would not be appropriate to lead a lie life outside compared to individuals experiencing a real life. A journey of enlightenment has been depicted through the way prisoners who have once chained now experience reality; they continue moving closer to the conscious world. True reality hits convicts upon release from the caves. Inmates lose the sense of innocence and with that, they stand a chance of undergoing the goodness and truth regarding actual reality.
In the world today, inmates chained in caves denote who have not lost their sense of innocence; they have not been enlightened. They have not experienced life reality; they only live in disillusion. They include people who are in the progress of acquiring knowledge through various educational processes and have not experience the other aspects of the rational world. The prisoners have no life outside prison; all the experience they have is inclined to what they encounter within the caves.
Both “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Allegory of the Cave” have advocated that enlightenment is not achieved easily. Much has to be done, and everyone should be ready to him/her his responsibility throughout. “Allegory of the Cave” blinds people form truth reality; a majority of perceiving what they see to be true. A time comes when people accept reality and take part in activities including returning to the cave. The experience at the prison is challenging, inmates get chained to an extent they cannot be able to make movements and can only stone-walls surrounding them. Fire serves as the only source of light which inmates can get and which enables them to see their shadows. They are unaware of all that happens given that they believed seeing such things were natural. Inmates were only aware of caves. Caves stopped them from establishing individual acquaintance and becoming fully enlightened. It has been used symbolically to symbolize the obstacle which inmates fine hand to overcome. At the start of “Waiting for the Barbarians” the magistrate who is the main protagonist faces Joll. The magistrate lives in Border settlement which is owned by an empire that opposes the barbarians. The magistrate seeking a decent retirement and hopes of serving without anything with numerous events occurring.
Works cited
Brantlinger, Patrick. “The Dialectic of Enlightenment.” Bread and Circuses: Theories of Mass Culture as Social Decay, Cornell University Press, Ithaca; London, 1983, pp. 222–248. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1g69xnz.10.
Hartoonian, Michael. “Philosophy and Enlightenment: The Role of Epistemology in the Education of Citizens.” The Good Society, vol. 25, no. 2-3, 2017, pp. 142–157. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/goodsociety.25.2-3.0142.
Gascoigne, John. “Cross-Cultural Knowledge Exchange in the Age of the Enlightenment.” Indigenous Intermediaries: New Perspectives on Exploration Archives, edited by Shino Konishi et al., ANU Press, 2015, pp. 131–146. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19705zg.12.
MAGAREY, SUSAN. “Faith and Enlightenment.” Unbridling the Tongues of Women: A Biography of Catherine Helen Spence, University of Adelaide Press, South Australia, 2010, pp. 63–76. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.20851/j.ctt1t304w0.10.
