Meet Plato: The Cave and the Light

The Academy

After watching Athens execute his teacher Socrates, Plato could have retreated into bitterness. Instead he founded the Academy — the first enduring institution of higher learning — and wrote dialogues in which his teacher lives forever, questioning everyone he meets.

Shadows on the wall

His allegory of the cave asks the uncomfortable question: what if most of what you take for reality is shadows — opinions, appearances, secondhand images? The philosopher's work is the slow turn toward the light, and the harder work of going back down to help others see.

Why they belong at your table

Seat him for questions about justice, education, and what is real behind appearances. He answers questions with better questions — that is the method.