 We lived in the darkness long enough, don't you think? Soon it'll be dawn. And Plato would have us step into the light. Now, we might find the cave comforting. The shadows and the darkness of the cave don't represent foreboding evil. Rather, it's ignorance. And even more specifically, the ignorance created by the certainty of our own beliefs, by the certainty that you can have, or the confidence that you can have with mere shadows, with just mere knowledge of particular things, there's a deeper comprehension to be had according to Plato. You know, the darkness, the moonlight, can be a bit more comfortable than the sun. After all, the sun can be a little hard on your eyes, especially for me. But you can't see nearly as much by moonlight as you can by the sun. You can't see nearly as much by a campfire as you can by the sun. It's gonna be dawn soon. It's time for us to step into the light. It's not quite yet dawn. So we have a little time before we really encounter the symbol for Plato's truth. So it's probably helpful to remember what Plato's trying to do here. He's trying to account for existence, right? He was still dealing with that project, beginning with Thales' Annexment or Annexments all the way through, still trying to account for existence. Now, his answer for what it means to exist is to participate, right? To be form, to participate in form. So all these particular trees out here participate in the form of tree. Now, this is very much, what Plato's doing is not only the project of metaphysics, he's also very much got the skeptics, there were some skeptics at the time, but very specifically the Sophists. He's very specifically rejecting what the Sophists had to say. And the Sophists were living in that ignorance. They had just the certainty of appearances. Truth is whatever you believe it is. Now, he's trying to bring us out not only trying to bring us out by giving us account of knowledge, but also giving us account of existence, but also knowledge, also knowledge. And for Plato, these two are wrapped up into one. They really are. So for what it means to exist is also his answer to the question, what is knowledge? It's form, right? This knowledge of the form. Now in the allegory of the cave, right? We had these four parts in the allegory, the shadows, the puppets or the cutouts, the solid objects outside, and then the sun. And you've heard this before, but it's worth repeating, right? The shadows are what they mean, or are just the appearances of particular things. Just the appearances, huh? The puppets are the particular things, these concrete particular things, right? So the appearance, the shadows for this tree bonds, that's the greens and the browns. The cutout is the tree, right? That's the tree. But you might say, well, hey, now I know the tree. What else is there? And Plato says, you're not done yet, right? In order to really understand tree, that tree, you have to understand what it means to be tree, right? The definition, the meaning, the essence of tree. And that's the form, right? So in the allegory, you have the shadows, which are the appearances, the puppets, which are the particular objects. The solid objects outside, well, that's the form, that's the meaning of tree, but you're still not done. In order to really get the meaning of tree, you have to understand the truth, the good, the true, the beautiful. Now that's represented by the sun. Okay. So these forms are the, you know, in these meanings, these essences, and for Plato, they have certain characteristics that make it very different from either particular things or the knowledge of them. Right? So starting with the knowledge, right? I know the form through reason. I don't know it through appearances. I can't see the form tree. One of the reasons why is because, you know, so I know the forms to the reason is because forms are universals as opposed to particulars. Now that's a particular tree. That's a particular tree. Over there is another particular tree. Those are particular things. The form of tree is what they have in common. Now you can't see that. You can only comprehend it through reason, right? So the perception is that tree, that tree, that tree. But through reason, I understand the form of tree. So forms are known through reason. They are universals. And known through reason as opposed to perception, they're universals as opposed to particulars. Now, since they're, you know, these particular things, they come and go, right? These trees will dive into, there's a point in time which they did not exist and there's a point in time in which they will cease to exist. And since, you know, they, since, you know, there's a point in time that they cease to exist, right? They are temporary. They exist in the timeline. Okay, well, the form does not cease to exist when a tree dies. The form exists independent of the tree. So these forms, now they're eternal, right? They're eternal as opposed to temporary. These trees are temporary. The form tree is eternal. It doesn't cease to exist with the death of trees. All right, and one other really important thing to remember for Plato, knowledge of the forms is objective, right? I know the form as opposed to subjective. With subjective knowledge, I just know what I think or what's happening in me, right? So for instance, by the way, appearances are subjective, right? That's subjective knowledge. I see my appearances, but nobody else sees my appearances. I don't see your appearances. You know, maybe the appearances are the same and are individualized. Okay, maybe yes, maybe no, but it's not like I can see what's happening in your mind, right? It's not like I can hear your thoughts. Only you can hear your thoughts. Only you can see what's happening in your mind. Well, if that's the case, then that's subjective knowledge. But the form is, when you know the form, you know the object, you know the form. I don't know that particular tree objectively, but I know the form objectively. I know the form, not just what's happening in me. So in the allegory, we got shadows, puppets, solid objects, the sun. That represent appearances, particular objects, the form, and then the good, the true and the beautiful. And forms are known through reason and it's objective knowledge. Forms themselves are the universals and they're eternal. Now that's just a quick breakdown of everything that we said, right? Oh gosh, we had to hear this again. No, okay. It's one thing to hear it. It's another thing to actually try and start using it. And to understand the differences between these. So let's go on our hike, right? And by the light of the true, the good and beautiful, let's see if we can figure out how to use what Plato has given us.