Wondering about going beyond

I examined my everyday life, I noted how it is enclosed in a limited perimeter, I studied the walls of this Platonic cave—where do I go from here?

It is time now for the second part of the philosophical journey: trying to step out of the cave. But how do I do this? To address this question, let us first see where in the philosophical process we are standing.

The past several lessons described the initial part of the philosophical journey: exploring our perimeter, or the Platonic cave in which we are imprisoned. As we have seen, this process can be described in terms of five main steps: We start by examining the individual’s personal experiences and everyday life. Second, we note patterns in the person’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts. Third, we expose the conceptions (or “theories”) that underlie those patterns. Fourth, we identify the forces that maintain those patterns and conceptions. And fifth, we philosophize about the person’s conceptions, or more generally about the perimeter (patterns, conceptions, forces).

The result of this process is a better understanding of the structure of our perimeter: its basic building blocks, its inner logic, its hidden assumptions and implications. We can now better understand the walls of the Platonic cave in which we live.

This five-step schema is, of course, too schematic and even crude. A real philosophical process cannot be captured with formulas. It is creative, dynamic, open-ended, personal, and it often goes back and forth between those five steps. Nevertheless, this schema, despite its limitations, is a helpful sketch of the first stage of the philosophical process: perimeter-exploration.

But once we have gained some appreciation of the walls of our perimeter, what do we do next? Presumably, we want to go beyond the walls of this prison, to get out of our cave—but how?

Here we should beware of a dangerous temptation. We live in a pragmatic, technological and satisfaction-seeking society. We may therefore be tempted to think that the task of philo-sophia is to repair or improve the person’s perimeter just as we repair a broken television or heal a sprained angle. It may be tempting, in other words, to try to modify the person’s perimeter in order to make it more functional and satisfactory. For example, if Steve has problems with his wife, then a philosopher might want to help him change his attitude towards marriage in order to improve the relationship. Or, if Mary is unsatisfied with herself, then the philosopher might be tempted to help her develop a more positive self-understanding.

From the perspective of philosophy, this is a mistake. Of course, there is nothing wrong with solving personal problems, but this is not the task of philo-sophia. Just as philo-sophia is not in the business of repairing broken televisions or curing medical problems, it is not in the business of solving personal problems or producing satisfaction. Philo-sophia is a search for wisdom and understanding. Once it is used as a tool for problem-solving, once it is aimed at satisfaction rather than depth, it becomes superficial and trivial. What had been an attempt to understand reality becomes a mere means for some practical product.

Moreover, the idea of modifying perimeters is often unrealistic. Perimeters are very resistant to change. The forces that maintain our patterns and conceptions are extremely powerful, and mere philosophical understanding cannot usually overcome them. Furthermore, even if the philosopher manages to modify the person’s perimeter, the result is simply replacing one perimeter with another perimeter, or changing one cave for another cave. But as Plato allegory explains, the goal of philo-sophia is not to make our cave more comfortable. It is, rather, to go beyond our cave, indeed beyond all caves towards a larger reality.

But what does it mean to get out of our cave, or go beyond our perimeter?

This is the Big Question of philosophical practice. It is a question about the essence of philo-sophia. And here it is extremely important to avoid quick answers and ready-made techniques, and instead to stop and reflect. As philosophers our challenge is to address this question without trivializing the meaning of wisdom and understanding, without relying on familiar slogans and popular trends, without being imprisoned by the knowledge we already possess, without selling our soul to the economical game of supply and demand and satisfying needs. Our challenge is to go beyond existing formulas and social norms and established ideas.

No ready-made method can help us now. It is necessary to open ourselves to wonder, perplexity, and even confusion. Only if we empty ourselves of our familiar ideas and conceptions can we hope for a breakthrough. Only if we let go of the attitude of “I know” and “I am in control” can we hope to continue on the road towards wisdom. In order to find we must first lose—we must lose our secure and comfortable cave-walls.