Necessity of the Cave

After reading Socrates' description of the cave and its purpose, I am beginning to see how necessary it really is to produce the type of philosopher that they want to properly rule the city. Up until this point we haven't specifically been told how the philosophers are developed, but as brutal as the cave might seem, I feel it most definitely serves its purpose. To our modern minds, keeping people trapped in a cave their whole life seems incredibly cruel and inhumane, but Socrates says, "we won't be doing injustice to the philosophers who come up to be among us, but rather that we will say just things to them while compelling them besides to care for and guard the others." (520a) This reinforces his idea of the good of the people versus the good of the one. Essentially those philosophers are suffering so that they can rule better in the long run, in "a state of waking." (520b)

Socrates continues his use of the divided line that was started in Book VI and uses the cave to describe the four stages of human development. The cave proves its necessity in order to see the clear progression of the philosophers from sensible thinking to a high degree of intellectual thinking and an understanding of the Forms of the Good. Socrates uses an example of looking at a finger. To our sight, a finger is a finger and when we look at one, our eyes just see "finger." Intellect comes in and distinguishes between a big finger, a small one, the skin tone, the shape, etc. "In order to clear this up the intellect was compelled to see the big and little too, not mixed together but distinguished, doing the opposite of what the sight did." (524c) To be able to do this, it is essential that the philosophers have intellection, and if I am understanding correctly, that is only obtained through the process of the cave.