In this paper, I attempt to offer an interpretation of one of the milestones of Western philosophy, namely, Plato’s allegory of the cave. Specifically, I wish to pay attention to a rather underestimated aspect of Plato’s narrative, namely, the severely coercive aspect of the educational landscape established by Plato. I wish to argue that, when carefully analyzed, the language and structure of the allegory clearly displays a process grounded in coercion and obedience, namely, a process whereby the subject being educated, unable to understand the world, the others and even her own experience, must strictly obey to philosopher’s dictate. Outside of such a dictate there is just incapability, deceit, and humiliation. In the second part of the paper, I attempt to outline an alternative picture of education and teaching. Drawing from the Heideggerian account of possibility and projecting, I argue that education and teaching stand upon the unpredictable terrain of possibility. Students, on this understanding, are bearers of ethical and ontological possibilities, responsible towards themselves and their peers while bounded to the open territory of the not-yet.
Plato’s Cave: A Tale of Coercion and Obedience Untangling the Knot between Education, Constriction and Truth
Vasco d'Agnese
2022
Abstract
In this paper, I attempt to offer an interpretation of one of the milestones of Western philosophy, namely, Plato’s allegory of the cave. Specifically, I wish to pay attention to a rather underestimated aspect of Plato’s narrative, namely, the severely coercive aspect of the educational landscape established by Plato. I wish to argue that, when carefully analyzed, the language and structure of the allegory clearly displays a process grounded in coercion and obedience, namely, a process whereby the subject being educated, unable to understand the world, the others and even her own experience, must strictly obey to philosopher’s dictate. Outside of such a dictate there is just incapability, deceit, and humiliation. In the second part of the paper, I attempt to outline an alternative picture of education and teaching. Drawing from the Heideggerian account of possibility and projecting, I argue that education and teaching stand upon the unpredictable terrain of possibility. Students, on this understanding, are bearers of ethical and ontological possibilities, responsible towards themselves and their peers while bounded to the open territory of the not-yet.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
