The Ascent as a Return to the Cave
The Ascent as a Return to the Cave

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, two Platonic texts are placed side by side – namely, the ascent passage from the Symposium and the Sun, Line and Cave analogies from the Republic – in order to dispel the notion that Plato recommends a highly intellectual pursuit of Ideas. We take here the often-neglected aspect of the cave analogy, which speaks of ethical involvement described in terms of descent, and use this to reinterpret the ladder of love. We find that it is not a matter of renunciation and abstraction, but instead, an increasingly refined pursuit of excellence that has the beloved’s moral education as its impetus and goal.

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