The Cave That Makes Socrates A Martyr

The democratic argument begins with theater. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are not merely artists; they are teachers of democratic life Source trail 0:00 Okay, so we are doing Socrates and Plato today. Last class we did Greek theater and remember I said that Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Eupodes, they're really prophets of democracy. They see themselves as teachers who teach... . Their plays train Athenians to recognize kingly hubris, accept individual responsibility, and believe that citizens can deliberate toward justice and truth. Democracy is not just a voting system here. It is a moral pedagogy.

Socrates enters as democracy's internal enemy. Source trail 1:172:293:46 If citizens come together and they deliberate and act with in good faith, then the world will be a better place. So that is the argument from the playwrights of Athens. Now obviously there are people who disagree with t...He would spend all day arguing with people in something called a Socratic dialogue. And showing the flaws in your reasoning. Showing you why you don't really understand the world when you think you do. Trying to prove t... The system only works if citizens can reach truth, and truth requires reason. But the ordinary citizen, in Socrates' view, cannot reason well enough. The Socratic dialogue is therefore not polite discussion. It is a method for taking an obvious statement, such as the earth is a sphere, and showing that the person who says it does not really know what he thinks he knows.

The deeper attack is on language. If language is only a convention for communication, and not a mirror of reality Source trail 4:43 the flaws in your reasoning and obviously if you get an argument Socrates you come out as a very mad person okay so the reputation of Socrates in Athens during this time was he was either a you guys see him as a bully o... , then public speech cannot guarantee public truth. That is why Socrates looks like a bully, clown, or trickster to Athens. He does not only defeat arguments; he makes the democratic medium itself look unreliable.

The Clouds shows what this looked like to Athens. The thinkery promises reason, logic, and truth, but its practical use is fraud: escape debt, trick juries, deny Zeus, and turn an oath into nothing. Socrates hangs in a basket with a clearer and higher view of the world, drawing inspiration from clouds. The joke is brutal because it says philosophy can make authority out of air Source trail 6:5910:00 named Socrates the thinkery proposes to teach you reason logic truth so that you can go and deceive jurors okay you can basically go and manipulate people and deceive them in a trial to get out of your debts so he wants...this is not a great play okay this is not a famous play of Greece but it tells you what Athenians thought of Socrates at this time okay um and it shows us that Athenians didn't think much of Socrates he worships the clo... .

The comic logic then becomes social violence. Source trail 9:0310:00 he's not a god so I swore an oath to nothing therefore I owe you nothing the creditors the credit obviously gets angry and he leaves okay now the son comes back and he and the first thing he does is start beating his fa...this is not a great play okay this is not a famous play of Greece but it tells you what Athenians thought of Socrates at this time okay um and it shows us that Athenians didn't think much of Socrates he worships the clo... The son learns enough from Socrates to justify beating his father: you beat me when I was bad, so I can beat you when you are bad. Reason no longer binds the household or the city; it dissolves obligations and produces clever reversals. That is why the play ends with the thinkery burning.

Socrates also has fans, and they matter politically. The children of the rich hate democracy because democracy tells commoners they are equals. Socrates gives these aristocrats mental or linguistic kung fu Source trail 10:00 this is not a great play okay this is not a famous play of Greece but it tells you what Athenians thought of Socrates at this time okay um and it shows us that Athenians didn't think much of Socrates he worships the clo... , a way to beat up ordinary citizens in argument. Athens tolerates him while it is open and wealthy, but after defeat by Sparta and the rule of the Thirty Tyrants, his social circle casts a longer shadow. Socrates does not join the tyranny; many tyrants are nevertheless his students.

The restored democracy forgives many collaborators, then puts Socrates on trial for impiety and corrupting the youth. The charges repeat the old comedy: he insults the gods and miseducates young men. The trial therefore looks strange, almost like a cruel joke Source trail 13:51 So it almost seems like this entire trial was a cruel joke put on by the people of Athens to teach Socrates a lesson, okay? Does that make sense? So the people of Athens expected Socrates to apologize, make some jokes,... , as if Athens wants Socrates to say sorry, make the right noises, and rejoin the city.

Socrates refuses that script. Source trail 13:5114:58 So it almost seems like this entire trial was a cruel joke put on by the people of Athens to teach Socrates a lesson, okay? Does that make sense? So the people of Athens expected Socrates to apologize, make some jokes,...I have absolutely nothing to do with the 30 tyrants. I spent all my life trying to help Athens. Therefore, if you're stupid, you will vote me guilty. If you're stupid, there's nothing I can do about it, okay? So, obviou... He says he is not a rhetorician because he has spent his life seeking truth. He should not need to defend himself because the jurors possess reason. If they think for themselves, they will see his innocence; if they are stupid, they will convict him. The speech insults the jury, but the guilty vote is still close.

Sentencing turns insult into theater. Socrates calls himself a gadfly and a mirror Source trail 15:57 said was, you have found me guilty, and the reason why you found me guilty is because I speak the truth. I'm a gadfly, okay? Gadfly. I go around and I point out the nasty truths of Athenian society. I put a mirror to yo... . He shows Athens its warts, pimples, and ugliness, and because that service improves the city, he proposes a pension. When that is too much, he offers a small fine. The jurors condemn him, and the trap closes in the other direction: the city has killed the old man who wanted to be proof that democracy cannot reason out the truth Source trail 17:02 I'll pay a fine, okay? And then we're good. How about that? And again, the Athenian jurors were pissed off, right? So they voted to condemn him to death by tricking him with a hemlock, okay? They basically gave him the... .

After Socrates dies, Plato's task is restoration. Source trail 18:1419:2732:40 Okay? And so the people of Athens realized that they were probably tricked and they were trying to get out of condemning Socrates to death. But Socrates insisted. And it came to a point where Socrates was just left alon...And The Republic is the most famous of Plato's work. It is arguably the greatest work of Western philosophy. And many today consider The Republic the greatest book ever written, okay? There are people in this world who... He founds the Academy and writes The Republic, not merely to produce a book, but to redeem the reputation of a mentor Athens laughed at and killed. The Allegory of the Cave is the instrument of that redemption because it turns the whole problem of truth into an image nobody forgets.

Inside the cave, people are chained to a wall of shadows. They name what they see, create language, play games with names Source trail 20:3721:39 Okay? Clear so far? All right. So this is the Allegory. Imagine a cave deep under the earth, okay? There's a cave. Now in this cave, at the back, there's a large fire that shines light into this cave, okay? There are th...It's the only reality that exists. And they start naming things that they see and that creates language. And they like to play games and try to figure out who can create the best language, okay? And then they give award... , and reward the people who make the best language. That is the old democratic theater turned upside down. Art, poetry, and drama may be honored by the city, but from Plato's view they are still shadow work: beautiful lies inside captivity.

When one prisoner is freed, truth first feels like damage Source trail 21:3922:50 It's the only reality that exists. And they start naming things that they see and that creates language. And they like to play games and try to figure out who can create the best language, okay? And then they give award...It's like burning him alive. And so at first, all he's doing is staring at the ground. And so he's seeing reflections in the pond, in the pool. But then he slowly acclimatizes himself to the sunlight and he starts to se... . Sunlight burns him alive because his eyes have been trained by darkness. Slowly he sees reflections, then things, then the sun, and the world becomes beautiful beyond language Source trail 22:50 It's like burning him alive. And so at first, all he's doing is staring at the ground. And so he's seeing reflections in the pond, in the pool. But then he slowly acclimatizes himself to the sunlight and he starts to se... . The truth is not a better sentence inside the cave. It is a different world, and the old language cannot carry it.

The return is the martyr story. Source trail 24:0024:57 he will, even though he loves where he is, he will still venture back into the cave in order to show people the truth of the world and to tell them that you've been living a lie all your life, okay? So he goes back into...And so the people are convinced utterly convinced he's an idiot. He's insane. He's a clown. And so they refuse to follow him. And at some point, because he insists on revealing the truth to them, they kill him, okay? Th... The freed man goes back out of pity, stumbles in the dark, and cannot describe what he has seen. The prisoners judge him an idiot, insane, a clown, and finally kill him. Plato has remade Socrates. The clown is now the philosopher of truth, and Athens kills him not because he is ridiculous, but because people cannot deal with the truth.

That reversal does not stop with Greece. In the Christian imagination, Socrates becomes Jesus Source trail 26:15 Not only that, but we consider him the first philosopher, even though he was not the first philosopher, okay? So that's the power of the allegory of the cave. This image forever transforms the way humanity understands a... : a figure who descends into the world with truth and is killed because humans fear truth. The cave is therefore not only an apology for Socrates. It becomes the story form through which Christianity can understand martyrdom and revelation.

Behind the allegory is a whole architecture of reality. The sun becomes the Form of the Good, the source of truth and of the ideals that structure the universe: reason, beauty, truth, and justice. From those ideals come perfect forms. The world we inhabit is only a copy, imitation, or shadow Source trail 28:53 But this is all perfection. And from this higher world comes the lesser world, the reality we live in. So everything that we see here, everything that we are here, is only an imitation, a shadow of this world, okay? Doe... of that higher reality.

The higher world is eternal, immutable, immaculate, and perfect. Source trail 28:5330:04 But this is all perfection. And from this higher world comes the lesser world, the reality we live in. So everything that we see here, everything that we are here, is only an imitation, a shadow of this world, okay? Doe...Guess what, guys? What is this? This is the Christian universe, right? This is God. This is heaven. This is earth, okay? Does it make sense? This is the allegory of the case. And you can see how it does these three thin... The lower world is the opposite: death, pain, decay, and imperfection. Once the map is drawn, the Christian universe is already visible. The Form of the Good becomes God, the higher world becomes heaven, and this suffering world becomes earth.

That is why the lecture makes its provocation: Plato is the real founder of Christianity, not Jesus. Source trail 30:04 Guess what, guys? What is this? This is the Christian universe, right? This is God. This is heaven. This is earth, okay? Does it make sense? This is the allegory of the case. And you can see how it does these three thin... The point is not that Jesus disappears. The point is that Plato gives Christianity an intellectual framework for arranging God, heaven, earth, perfection, suffering, truth, and salvation into one vertical universe.

The politics follow from the wound. The Republic asks what makes a good society because democracy has killed Socrates. The answer cannot be ordinary democratic opinion. A good society is just; justice is truth; truth belongs to the Form of the Good; and only philosophers can access it through reason. The philosopher king is the political form of the cave. Source trail 31:35 The allegory of the cave actually appears in the Republic. The Republic itself, Plato's story, Plato is trying to answer the question, what is a good society, okay? What is a good society? That's the question he's tryin...

Plato does not survive only because he is the best. He survives because he writes in a form built for survival. Trained by theater, he hooks dialogue off the stage and transfers it onto the page Source trail 33:52 The first is Plato, the way he writes, it's unique and original to him. Plato originally trained as a playwright, okay? So he wanted to be Aeschylus. He wanted to be Sophocles, Eupatius, because everyone wanted to be a... . Philosophy becomes conversation, argument, character, and dramatic motion. Compared with later philosophers who are almost unreadable, Plato can still be entered.

He also survives because power likes him. Source trail 34:5736:16 They're just not. But Plato, anyone can read Plato and enjoy Plato, okay? So his readability, the originality of his writing is one really good reason why he remains so popular today. Second is, he is extremely anti -de...as a result, because it's easy to access Plato, he's become the most influential philosopher of all time. Okay, does that make sense? And third of all, was his academy, okay? And the academy in Athens at that time, it's... Plato hates democracy because democracy killed Socrates, and kings hate democracy because democracy threatens kings. For most of history, kings rule the world. A readable anti-democrat with an elite school is easy to preserve, teach, and institutionalize. The Academy trains powerful students, and Aristotle packages and promotes Plato into Greek cultural expansion.

The student question about Plato's influences opens the archive problem. Socrates is not enough as an intellectual source because Socrates questions wisdom more than he builds theories. Plato lives in a crowded world of Greek poleis, Egyptian learning, Mesopotamian traditions, Persian contact, and traveling philosophers. Athens is not isolated. Source trail 39:04 And while he's traveling, he's absorbing lots of different philosophy, okay? So look, we don't have access to Egyptian sources, right? So we don't know what sources would influence Plato. But we know the Egyptians heavi... It is one node in a larger intellectual landscape.

But most of that landscape is gone. The exact Egyptian or Mesopotamian sources are inaccessible; possible equals of Plato have vanished. Civilization is not just about changing the past; it is also about eliminating most of the past. Source trail 40:09 But we don't know who these people were. Because remember, citizenship, it's not really just about changing the past. It's also about eliminating most of the past, right? Okay? Plato becomes enormous partly because the archive around him has been thinned.

The final irony is practical. Plato can imagine the philosopher king, but when he goes to Syracuse and tries to advise a tyrant into becoming one, the experiment fails. He angers people, nearly dies, and escapes through wealth and friends. The theory fails in the city, but the ideas conquer the world through empire. Source trail 40:5341:52 It was very common for Greeks to think they should rule the world. It was just very common. So Plato himself actually went to a place called Syracuse. Syracuse is a city on the island of Sicily. It's very prosperous. An...But everyone wanted to be a philosopher king. Any more questions? Okay, so next class, we will do the rise of Macedonia, okay? So remember, these are ideas that are being incubated in Athens and in Greece at this time.... Macedonia, Philip II, and Alexander spread Greek culture until Greek theater and philosophy become part of the basis of Western civilization.