Plato’s cave and gradual education

Use in the book

Ficino’s Republic VII narrative places people bound from childhood in an underground cave, unable to turn from the facing wall. A lamp behind them casts shadows of themselves and of representations carried by walkers. They mistake shadows for themselves, objects and light. Sudden release does not immediately yield knowledge: turning toward the lamp brings pain and dazzlement, and abrupt ascent to daylight is worse. A sequenced education passes through reflections and objects in the cave, moonlit reflections and earthly things, the heavens at night, daytime reflections, things under the sun, and finally the sun.

The application relates cave to visible world as visible world to invisible divine world. Its “true sun” belongs to this intelligible contrast. Character, learning and time all contribute to education; ascent is not sheer accumulation of sensory detail. The movement then reverses: descent into body is compared with sudden entry into darkness, with stumbling and disorders illustrated by frenzy, sleep and intoxication. The historical physiological account and Ficino’s language of soul’s descent must remain attributed rather than converted into diagnosis or an independently demonstrated chronology of embodiment.

Places to read

1. VI.2.14The staging explains how a restricted field becomes mistaken for all reality.
2. VI.2.15, VI.2.16Gradual re-education is mapped onto visible and invisible worlds.
3. VI.2.17, VI.2.18Descent reverses the adaptation, followed by an exhortation to emerge.

Translation in this edition

Lampas and ignis designate the same cave light while remaining different printed words. The edition retains moribundi, “dying,” and the distinct moral, intellectual and temporal stages. The report is Ficino’s telling of Plato, not a replacement translation of the Republic.

caecutire; titubare; aegrotare

caecutire; titubare; aegrotare. Printed forms: aegrotare; caecutire; titubare.

To grope blindly, stumble and be ill. The descent reverses the ascent’s adaptation to light and dramatizes the effects of sudden change. References: VI.2.17. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

caelum; terra; mundus

caelum; terra; mundus. Printed forms: caeli; caelis; caelo; caelum; mundi; mundo; mundum; terra; terrae.

Heaven, earth and world, as spatial, cosmological or analogically intelligible domains. The visible and invisible worlds in the cave application differ from the physical sphere hierarchy; “beyond the world” can concern cognitive scope rather than bodily travel. References: VI.2.2, VI.2.3, VI.2.16, VI.2.22, VI.2.24, VI.8.2, VI.8.7. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

caligare; dolere

caligare; dolere. Printed forms: caligabit; caligamus; dolebit; dolemus.

To have clouded sight and suffer pain. Sudden exposure to brighter objects motivates the necessity of gradual education. References: VI.2.15, VI.2.16. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

cervix; columna

cervix; columna. Printed forms: cervicem; columnis.

Neck and pillars in the cave’s staging. Bodily constraints explain why the prisoners only see what lies before them rather than its sources behind. References: VI.2.14. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

emergere; immergere

emergere; immergere. Printed forms: Emergite; immersae.

To emerge and to be immersed. The exhortation answers the preceding image of souls engulfed in bodily darkness. References: VI.2.18. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

gradus; paulatim

gradus; paulatim. Printed forms: congruis educationis disciplinarumque gradibus; convenientibus gradibus; paulatim.

Gradual stages fitted to a learner’s condition. The sequence of reflections, objects, night and daylight structures the ascent rather than a single leap to the sun. References: VI.2.15, VI.2.16. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

lampas; ignis

lampas; ignis. Printed forms: ignem; lampadem; lampas.

Lamp and fire as names of the cave’s artificial light-source. They must remain distinct from the sun reached in the later ascent. References: VI.2.14, VI.2.15. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

ligare; vincire

ligare; vincire. Printed forms: alligatos; vincti; vinctus.

To bind or fasten. The prisoners cannot turn or move to correct their restricted view of projected shadows. References: VI.2.14, VI.2.15. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

mores; doctrina; tempus

mores; doctrina; tempus. Printed forms: doctrinarum; morum; temporis.

Character, learning and time as dimensions of education. All three qualify the ascent; intellectual information alone is not the whole discipline. References: VI.2.17. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

moribundus; carcer

moribundus; carcer. Printed forms: carcere caeco; moribundi corporis.

A dying body and blind prison. Ficino’s stronger mortal image maps the visible world onto the cave without reducing “dying” to a neutral bodily location. References: VI.2.16. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

phrenesis; somnus; ebrietas

phrenesis; somnus; ebrietas. Printed forms: ebrietatem; phrenesim; somnum.

Frenzy, sleep and intoxication as comparisons for deceptive imagery. They illustrate the soul’s disorientation on descent in Ficino’s historical account, not clinical advice. References: VI.2.17. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

simulachrum; resultare

simulachrum; resultare. Printed forms: resultant; simulachra.

A representation carried by walkers; to project or rebound as a shadow. The prisoners confuse the shadow cast by a representation with the thing itself. References: VI.2.14. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

sincere discernere

sincere discernere. Printed forms: discernet; discernimus; sincere.

To distinguish without distortion or admixture. The adverb describes undeceived cognition after ordered preparation, not merely honesty of intention. References: VI.2.15, VI.2.17. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

solvere; retro versus

solvere; retro versus. Printed forms: retro versus; solvatur.

To release; turned backward. Release initially forces painful attention to the source of the earlier appearances rather than instantly producing clear vision. References: VI.2.15. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

spelunca; specus; caverna

spelunca; specus; caverna. Printed forms: cavernam; specu; speluncam.

Cave or subterranean enclosure. The overlapping words name the restricted educational setting and later the comparison for descent into bodily darkness. References: VI.2.14, VI.2.15, VI.2.17. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

statim; subito; paulatim

statim; subito; paulatim. Printed forms: paulatim; protinus; repente; statim; subito; tandem; vix.

Immediately, suddenly, gradually, at last and scarcely, distinguishing temporal manners. The educational ascent cannot be made suddenly; immediate awareness in the Avicennian experiment and gradual material flux have different roles. References: VI.2.1, VI.2.12, VI.2.15, VI.13.11. See Plato’s cave and gradual education.

Plato (authorities and interlocutors)

Plato. Plato is both an authority and an illustrative individual in this volume. His name in examples of particular human beings must be distinguished from claims attributed to his works. The cave, the mixing-bowl account and the hierarchy of intelligible forms have different local uses. References: V.5.9, VI.2.14, VI.2.17, VII.1.1, VIII.1.1. See Plato’s cave and gradual education; Four causes and graded dependence; Receiving images: wax, seals and mirrors; Common nature, participation, and the divine Idea.

Plato, Republic, book VII (explicitly named works)

Plato, Republic, book VII. The cave narrative and its subsequent mapping organize gradual intellectual education and the difficulty of return. Ficino’s retelling and applications are the immediate object of the articles. References: VI.2.9, VI.2.14, VI.2.15, VI.2.16, VI.2.17. See Plato’s cave and gradual education; Intellectual objects and the owl’s eye.