Introduction

The cave allegory of plato's republic is illustrated with some of the most famous passages in the platonic dialogues. Socrates himself draws attention to this, saying that he expects to be drowned by a wave of objections when he says thatphi sophers should rule. To understand his argument, we should remember that socrates is thinking of a successful philosopher. This be a man or woman who has achieved knowledge, not some one who knows only that he knows nothing.