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the stage for international relations, as well as the framework through which allies and enemies see her.
America and the world have been pretty much working under the assumption that Trump and
Biden would battle it out for the presidency. And has been the case since their first battle in 2020, Americans pretty much know that Trump and Biden are opposites, both in terms of their personal histories and political positions (if you don’t know, see “Side-by-Side” insert, pp. 56-57). By consequence, you have two men, both former presidents, who are diametrically opposed in terms of character, temperament, and practice – three characteristics that underpin the sense of dignity. It is a fact confirmed by polls indicating voter support, which is essentially split along party lines in America. What better way to test not only the allegory of the cave but its relevance to contemporary society, than to situate each of these men inside the cave itself?
Why is this the case? Well, many may argue that the allegory of the cave is nothing more than the means to illustrate the concept of Idealism; but a more interesting way of looking at the passage may be to place it within the context of courage, reason, and the relationship between people in general – not to mention the individuals who choose to lead them. Taking what we know about Trump and Biden (and by consequence, their respective supporters) and aligning those lessons with the three stages of interaction and consequences outlined in the allegory, it becomes possible to assess how far we have come as a people and how far we have yet to go.
Sitting Before the Wall of the Cave: Men in Mass, Not Thinking
If you remember, Socrates introduces Glaukon
– and us, as readers – to human beings as people who sit in mass before the cave wall in a state of unnaturalness insofar as they lack freedom, staring directly forward. There, they interact with shadows – images of people and animals carved from stone and wood and other materials – that are projected on the wall from a fire behind them. They consider truth to be nothing but the shadows of the carved objects projected before them.
Existing in this state, they do not think. They instead react, by accepting things set before them without question. There is even a question of whether people interact with one another, or understand if others exist if at all, as they pretty much live in their singular world staring straight ahead, bound by their environment to see things only before them. Change is not an option. A person could say they are ‘reactionary.’
The environment of the presidential campaign is not all that different from the cave itself. Video presentations and speeches presented to individuals at the convention or through attack ads on television are contemporary equivalents of shadows generated by the interplay of light (fire) against the screen (wall). There is no real commentary or debate, simply the self-assuring images people desire to see and the commentary people desire to hear, in
The environment of the presidential campaign is not all that different from the cave itself. Video presentations and speeches presented to individuals at the convention or through attack ads on television are contemporary equivalents of shadows generated by the interplay of light (fire) against the screen (wall).