The return to the cave and knowledge of oneself
Keywords:
Plato, self-knowledge, polisAbstract
The Platonic proposal that the philosopher should return to the cave in order to “care for the others” seems to conflict with the idea, defended by Socrates, that justice is advantageous to oneself. Although Socrates insists that his proposal is just referring to the reciprocity principle (519b), nevertheless the law that favors happiness, not of a group, but of the whole polis (520d) and the disregard that the philosopher has for public issues (521b) would seem to go contrary to the philosopher’s own benefit. If the necessity were determined by the philosopher’s own nature, it would be a means for the realization of the same nature. In this article, as we aim to show, knowledge of oneself develops at several levels and these correspond to the several levels of the cave/divided line which constitute the whole knowledge of men
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