Plato | "The Allegory of the Cave" | The Republic | Philosophers Explained | Stephen Hicks

Philosophers, Explained covers major philosophers and texts, especially the great classics. In each episode, Professor Hicks discusses an important work, doing a close reading that lasts 40 minutes to an hour.

In this episode, Dr. Hicks reads the Allegory of the Cave in Book 7 of Plato's Republic, discussing the allegory itself and the metaphysical, epistemological, social, educational and psychological conclusions it draws.

00:56 The lecture begins
01:39 The thought experiment begins: imagine people living in a cave (514a)
02:44 What they see (514c)
03:50 A short explanation
06:56 The prisoners are released(515c)
10:53 An instructor comes along(515d)
12:12 They are dragged out of the cave(515e)
14:33 Enlightenment(516b)
14:52 He remembers his former home(516c)
15:55 What does he do next?(516e)
17:14 He returns to the cave((517a)
19:13 This allegory shows us the state we are in(517b)
20:30 Human affairs are beneath us(517d)
23:23 Knowledge is within us(518c)

Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had visiting positions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College in England, and Jagiellonian University in Poland.

Other links:

Explaining Postmodernism audiobook:    • Explaining Postmodernism by Stephen H...  
Website: http://www.stephenhicks.org/
Facebook:   / srchicks  
Twitter:   / srchicks  
Instagram:   / stephenhicksphilosophy