Key Arguments

• The best must 'continue to ascend until they arrive at the good' (greatest knowledge) and then must not be allowed to remain above.
• They 'must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labours and honours.'
• This compulsion is justified by the legislator’s aim: not the happiness of one class but of the whole State.

Source Quotes

Very true, he replied. Then, I said, the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all—they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good; but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they do now. What do you mean?

What do you mean? I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labours and honours, whether they are worth having or not. But is not this unjust? he said; ought we to give them a worse life, when they might have a better?

But is not this unjust? he said; ought we to give them a worse life, when they might have a better? You have again forgotten, my friend, I said, the intention of the legislator, who did not aim at making any one class in the State happy above the rest; the happiness was to be in the whole State, and he held the citizens together by persuasion and necessity, making them benefactors of the State, and therefore benefactors of one another; to this end he created them, not to please themselves, but to be his instruments in binding up the State. True, he said, I had forgotten.

Key Concepts

• Then, I said, the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all—they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good; but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they do now.
• they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labours and honours
• the legislator, who did not aim at making any one class in the State happy above the rest; the happiness was to be in the whole State

Context

Normative policy corollary of the cave: the educational arc must include both ascent (contemplation) and mandated return (governance).

Perspectives

Plato

Sanctions philosopher-rulers’ civic obligation; the return institutionalizes the Good’s guidance within the city.

Socrates

Asserts political necessity: even if reluctant, philosophers must serve when it is their turn.