2000 years ago, Plato, one of the forefathers of Western civilization,
materialized the foundational ideas on reflective thinking in the “Allegory of
the Cave”, which stemmed from the “Republic.” In his essay, he
symbolically shows the stages and value of reaching a higher level of thinking.
Being able to reflectively think is so important, it is still being discussed in
our modern times. In the essay “How do we know? Why do we Believe?”, by
Patricia King, the stages of thinking are outlined in order to help educators
better teach critical thinking. She describes how people process information and
arrive at conclusions. Her aspirations for the essay are to help people move
from pre-reflective thinking to reflective. King’s thinking stages are
symbolically represented in Plato’s essay. This connection shows how after
thousands of years, reflective thinking is still needed in our societies. In the
“Allegory of the Cave” from the Republic, Plato describes a situation about
men chained to the walls of a cave. The men are shown nothing but shadows from
puppets, consequently they believe it to be reality. When they hear voices, they
have no doubt those come from the shadows too. Plato then asks, what would
happen if one of the men was released and shown real objects outside the cave?
Would he trust them as real or would he think they were illusions too? After his
eyes grow accustomed to the light and he understood the seasons of the Earth,
would he want to return to the cave? Plato then inquires, if the man were to
venture back in the cave and tell his peers that the shadows were illusions,
would they just say the man’s eyes were destroyed by whatever he saw outside
the cave? And even possibly try to kill him? In Plato’s story, he symbolizes
the stages of thinking very well. The man released from the cave goes through
developmental stages which are profiled in King’s essay. Throughout Plato’s
and King’s essay, both continually show the need for teachers or in Plato’s
case, authority figures. King’s essay can very well be used to explain
Plato’s. A correlation amongst essays written thousands of years apart shows
an overwhelming importance with reflective thinking in societies. This higher
thinking is clearly shown to be needed in order for civilizations to survive.
King outlines the different stages in thinking, which in-turn correspond to
Plato’s essay. Stage one and two of King’s outline are, “characterized by
the assumption that knowledge is gained through direct, personal observation or
through the word of an authority figure...”(section 11) This quote clearly
pertains to the men believing the cave’s shadows were reality. They think what
they see, in other words their personal observations, must be true. Whatever is
illuminating the shadows can be seen as the men’s authority figures. If this
light show is all they have known for their whole lives, they will be convinced
it is real. In Plato’s essay, authority figures play a major role in the lives
of the men in the caves and the development of their thought processes. King’s
whole essay is directed at teachers being able to understand and help their
students reach a higher level of thinking. King and Plato, though 2000 years
apart, similarly agree on the necessity of teachers. King describes stage three
as answers exist, but are temporarily inaccessible. This stage is reflected when
the man is being dragged out of the cave and his eyes are hurt by the light.
While his eyes are adjusting to the light, he knows answers are out there, but
at the moment he cannot see and understand them. The pain in his eyes makes him
want to turn back. The pain represents unfamiliarity, which like pain makes him
want discontinue the journey. If there wasn’t an authority figure present, the
man would probably turn back. In King’s essay, when a student reaches the
unfamiliarity stage, the teacher has to keep assisting the student in further
development. Stage four is where, “Evidence emerges as an important ingredient
in the construction of knowledge claims, along with the acknowledgment that the
evidence itself cannot be known with absolute certainty.”(section13) The man
released from the cave discovers a whole new world outside. His eyes adjust to
the sunlight, and he is able to make out images of men, the sun, the moon, and
even the stars. He begins to understand nature’s seasons by observing the
environment. He now understands that what he saw before had nothing to do with
the real world. Therefore, he now looks for evidence when drawing conclusions.
He doesn’t just assume everything that he can see is real. By the man now
understanding that evidence must play a key role in decision making, he has
actually become a reflective thinker. After he has seen the outside world, he
wants to venture back to the cave and teach his old friends of the new life and
how what they are seeing is not reality. Plato and King both stress the
importance of authority figures, and who else can teach reflective thinking than
someone who personally uses the method? The man has now become a teacher, by
venturing back into the cave he is playing his role as an authority figure or as
King would say, an educator. Plato’s line, “one who has been drag[ged]...away
forcibly up the steep and rugged ascent and...hauled out into the
sunlight,”(section19) is someone who has achieved a higher vision of thinking.
King would agree with the quote in another sense. King would agree, people need
guidance in order to reach reflective thinking. She wouldn’t say people need
to be dragged to a higher level, but guided. Since the two essays are only
symbolic to each other, guided and dragged have virtually the same meaning. The
prisoner who was released would have never discovered his newly found way of
thinking if he was not dragged out of the cave. King’s model is directed at
educators to help guide students to the light. This concept of people needing to
be guided to the light shows how advanced Plato’s thoughts were for his time.
Plato’s intentions with his essay was to show that reflective thinkers were
needed to rule their society. Plato theorized that select individuals would be
taught the methods of reflective thinking and then appointed to high ranking
governmental positions. That was 2000 years ago, and the constitution among
other things would not allow that sort of government today. King is proposing
that all teachers educate all the students with the higher form of thinking. She
theorizes that everyone is going to have some sort of position in life where
reflective thinking would benefit. If Plato were around today, he would more
than likely side with King. Both writers stress the vital role that the
authority figure plays in the subject’s and student’s lives. The reflective
thinkers are the people who are needed to educate society. The times have
defiantly changed, but the need for the higher forms of thinking amongst society
has not.