AustLit

'Let us imagine with Socrates that a group of manacled prisoners have lived their lives inside a shadowy cave. A fire burns behind them at a distance. Unable even to turn their heads they sit watching the shadows on a wall projected by puppeteers passing behind them. They will assume the shadows to be real. If a prisoner ever breaks free to confront and perceive the reality that exists outside the cave rather than the manufactured reality of the shadows the inmates are in no position to believe in him. Yes, we are into Plato’s famous Cave Allegory (Republic 514a–520a) that puts to question our perceived reality. Are we living in shadows perceiving the world as has been professed to us through the ages to be understood only through binaries? Is there no other way for human minds to perceive the truth? Did Socrates have to die because he could walk out of the cave and it was difficult for the inmates to have believed in him?' (Editorial introduction)