Binswanger's Appreciation of ANTHEM
by Fred Seddon
In an Epilogue to ESSAYS ON AYN RAND'S ANTHEM, (for which I am writing a glowing review) Harry Binswanger writes an “Appreciation” of ANTHEM in which he tells the story of a student asking whether Rand wrote ANTHEM as an answer to Plato’s “Myth of the Cave” from The REPUBLIC. While he suspected that Rand did not have Plato in mind, he does think it makes a “marvelous comparison” which he proceeds to supply. I agree and would like to give my own comparison in contrast to Binswanger’s.
Since Binswanger’s comparison consists of only five sentences, I would like to quote them in full. In the original, he intercalates his interpretation of Plato with his interpretation of Rand, but I will only provide his statements on Plato.
"In Plato’s myth, a group of people live chained underground, in a cave; they have always seen only shadows on the cave wall, which they mistake for true reality, of which they know nothing. One of them gets free, goes above ground and sees the real world and the sun that lights it. He returns underground, is rejected by the ignorant many, and is ultimately killed by them. . . . For Plato, the moral is that true knowledge comes from a passive revelation of a higher reality, and that the masses, who cannot comprehend it, will destroy the individual who does. . . . For Plato, the moral is the need to turn away from the material world; . . ."
Here is my version.
In Socrates’ image, a group of people live chained underground, in a cave; they have always seen only shadows on the cave wall, which they mistake for true reality, of which they know nothing. These shadows are caused by men behind them carry implements of all kinds before a fire. One of them is freed and compelled to stand up and turn around to face the back of the cave. He is then dragged by force up the ascent, out of the cave, and sees the real world and the sun that lights it. He returns underground, is rejected by the ignorant many, and would be killed by them if they could get at him. . . . For Socrates, the moral is that true knowledge comes from an arduous effort of philosophical thought, and that the masses, who cannot comprehend it, will attempt to destroy the individual who does makes such an effort. . . . For Socrates, the moral is that true education requires that one needs to see more than the politicians and pseudo-educators want one to see; . . .
I made my changes for the following reasons.
1. I replaced “Plato” with “Socrates” since it is Socrates who is speaking. Using “Plato” assumes that Socrates is a mouthpiece for Plato in much the same way that Galt speaks for Rand. While we have Rand’s own words in FOR THE NEW INTELLECTUAL that Galt speaks for her, no such statement from Plato exists that would allow us to assume that Socrates speaks for him. I also replaced “myth” with “image” following Bloom—Glaucon uses the word “eikos” in this section but never “muthos.” Notice I also don't assume Glaucon speaks for Plato.
2. I added the second sentence (These shadows etc.) in order to provide a back referent for the claim I make in the last sentence about the “politicians and pseudo-educators.”
3. The next two sentences were necessary to concretize the difficulty of a philosophical education. (I identify the one who frees the prisoner with someone like Socrates, a dialectical cross-examiner.)
4. In the penultimate sentence, I replaced “passive revelation” with “arduous effort.” My reason for this change is that in Book VII, the Book in which the Cave Image occurs, Socrates details an extensive training in the mathematical arts of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy etc. as a prelude to philosophy. When I think of “passive revelation” I think of God appearing to Abraham and such like, not years of math!
I think Binswanger should have the last word, so allow me to close with one of my favorite comparisons by him. This has to do with a wonderful play on words about the sun. In Socrates’ image, the prisoner sees the sun, in ANTHEM, Equality invents his own sun. Allow me to quote Binswanger. “In ANTHEM, the many are above ground, enchained by their collectivist ideas and values; the hero goes down into an abandoned tunnel to discover the truth, invents his own sun—an electric light—returns above ground to enlighten the others in his society, is declared evil and imprisoned; but he breaks free and goes on to found a new individualist society.” Thanks Harry, I really did appreciate your appreciation.
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