Against Tyranny in the Cave: Narratives of Compulsion and Nonviolent Resistance Public
Wang, Julia (2014)
Published
Abstract
Abstract
Against Tyranny in the Cave: Narratives of Compulsion and Nonviolent Resistance
By Julia Wang
The allegory of the cave is arguably one of the most recognized and enduring passages of Plato's Republic . From this allegory arises a duality of the philosopher's plight: once he or she has entered the world of light outside the cave, the philosopher risks alienation from society or is faced with returning to the cave, in which the philosopher may indeed endanger his or her own life.
This thesis examines the significance of Plato's cave allegory through several reinterpretations that emerge from varying sociopolitical contexts. Concurrently, the notion of nonviolence arises very naturally as a complementary focus to the authentic philosopher's character. Both Etienne de la Boétie and Henry David Thoreau, though hailing from drastically different historical eras, sociopolitical backgrounds and geographical locations, wrote formally on nonviolent disobedience in their respective essays, which this thesis analyzes in its first chapter. These two historical figures' lives serve to represent the very problems that arise from Plato's allegory and are linked by the philosophical foundations found in their writing. In contrast, Heidegger and Arendt, presented in the second chapter, wrote about the allegory directly, and their lives nonetheless reflected the very issues of which they wrote. In examining these different historical figures' lives and philosophies, the question of a solution to the philosopher's dilemma inevitably looms behind each analysis. Therefore, this thesis turns to fictional literature and the act of writing as a means to reconcile the philosopher's predicament. The third chapter looks specifically to Mikhail Bulgakov's life and work, The Master and Margarita, in which the notions of laughter and carnivalesque emerge, alongside the novel's cave-like imagery, as the ultimate transmission of philosophy and liberation.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Chapter 1 - Nature and Freedom in Society:
La Boétie and Thoreau……………………………………………………...............10
Chapter 2 - Imposing Freedom and the Dangers of Self-Certainty
Heidegger and Arendt…………………………………………………………...….29
Chapter 3 - Carnival as the Interior Form of Freedom:
Bulgakov and Bakhtin………………………………………………………………46
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...…..68
About this Honors Thesis
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