Beyond Plato’s Cave

I often discuss philosophy with my eight-year-old son. Although he can’t yet grasp the full complexities of my work, he’s deeply interested in thinking about the questions I grapple with: What is the nature of time? What is the nature of causation? How do we deal with apparently irreconcilable oppositions? How does new technology change our relation to the world, and to one another?

I also read to my son every night. We recently finished the Harry Potter series, and now we’re on to The Hobbit. He has a voracious appetite for fiction, reading entire “middle grade” novels (ages 8-12) in a day. So I decided to write a novel that he might want to read. Beyond Plato’s Cave addresses serious philosophical questions—I consider it my contribution to the much-discussed endeavor of public philosophy—but the novel is not primarily a pedagogical tool. My hope is that children who read it will learn something about philosophy without even realizing that they’re being taught. But most of all, I had a huge amount of fun writing the book, and I hope everyone (even adults) will enjoy reading it.

Here is the first chapter:

First Day

Ethan and Nick were up by a point with three seconds left on the clock. Nick served the ball, and their opponent smacked the glowing orb directly at their goal. Ethan dove, blocking the shot just in time. “Nice save!” Nick shouted as the buzzer went off. They had won the match! Then Ethan heard a distant voice.

“Time to go, honey!”

“See you at school, Nick!” Ethan called to his friend. He tore off his goggles and gloves, and shouted, “Coming, Mom!” as he grabbed his backpack and ran down the stairs two at a time.

It was Ethan Whitehead’s first day of eighth grade. He was a little nervous to start a new school in a new city, but he was mostly excited to be reunited with his best friend, Nick Hillman. Ethan had left behind some pretty good friends in Boston, where he grew up, but he and Nick had known each other since they were babies, and they were two of a kind. Their dads had been roommates when they studied computer science at Stanford. Ethan’s dad, David Whitehead, had become a professor at MIT after finishing his PhD. That’s where he met Ethan’s mom, Christina, another brilliant computer scientist. Nick’s dad, Rob Hillman, had stayed in Silicon Valley and become a tech billionaire. He was the founder of The Scape, the most popular Virtual Reality system in the world. But the two geniuses had stayed close friends. Their families vacationed together every year on Nick’s family’s private island in the Caribbean.

Ethan’s parents had invented an amazing new Virtual Reality interface called Mentalink. It was a huge leap beyond the goggles, headphones, and touchgloves that were the current standard. According to their dads, it was like being in another world. Ethan and Nick had spent a lot of time together in the Scapes, the virtual worlds created by Nick’s dad. So even though their bodies had been across the country from each other, they had already been through a lot of adventures together. They felt as close as brothers. In fact, they were the closest thing each of them had to a brother, since neither of them had any real siblings.

Nick’s dad had finally convinced Ethan’s parents to move back to California to combine their new technology and Rob’s software, games that were often more like worlds they could explore. And of course Rob Hillman’s business skills and his huge fortune were a nice bonus. They were going to create a tech revolution. They all knew it.

The first day of classes went by in a blur. Ethan knew he was supposed to be overwhelmed starting a new school. But finally having Nick there by his side, cracking jokes and talking constantly about every possible thing made Ethan feel better than he had in a long time. Ethan, with his dark hair and olive skin, was quiet and shy. His prominent nose was often stuck in a book when he wasn’t riding his bike or exploring the Scapes with Nick. Nick, with his dirty-blond hair and California tan, was outgoing. In Ethan’s experience, Nick could talk anyone into anything and make them think it was their idea. They were a perfect match.

The last period of the day was Intro to Philosophy, and Nick led the way to the far side of the classroom to some open desks next to two girls. “Hey Izzy, hey Sophie,” Nick called out breezily. “This is my best friend, Ethan. He just moved here from Boston.”

“It’s Isabella, actually, but everyone calls me Izzy,” said the girl with curly brown hair and a wry smile, leaning forward. “Welcome to paradise.” Ethan liked her right away. She reminded him of his cousin from New York.

“Hi,” said Sophie in a calm voice, her long, dark red hair framing her pale, unreadable face. He noticed with a start that she was really pretty, like some medieval English princess. Ethan managed to get out a “hi,” and then busied himself taking out the first book on the reading list, Plato’s Republic.

“Alright, folks, I’m Mr. Gebser,” said the teacher, who looked like a slightly graying surfer dude. “Today I’m going to tell you one of the most famous stories in the history of philosophy, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.” Izzy rolled her eyes at Nick and mouthed the word “boring,” but Nick just smiled. Ethan actually thought it sounded kind of interesting.

“There are people chained up in a cave, facing the wall with their backs to the cave’s entrance. Outside the mouth of the cave, there’s a huge bonfire, and people are carrying objects across the entrance so that they cast shadows on the wall. The people chained up have been there their whole lives, so they think the shadows are the real thing. Then one brave soul, a philosopher, gets the idea to break out of his chains and go check out what’s going on outside the cave. He stumbles toward the opening, and at first he can’t see a thing because he’s blinded by the light. But as his eyes adjust, he sees people carrying these objects past that aren’t just flat, grey shadows, but colorful three-dimensional objects. This is the World of Forms, which are more real than the shadows. And guess what?” Mr. Gebser paused for dramatic effect. “The word ‘educate’ comes from the Latin ‘to lead out,’ as in the philosopher who leads his buddies out of the cave into the real world.”

Ethan thought that was pretty cool, and Sophie seemed to be listening closely, but Nick and Izzy were passing notes back and forth, quietly giggling. “And,” Mr. Gebser continued, “that’s what I’m trying to do with you jokers,” he said, smiling benignly, looking directly at Izzy and Nick, who immediately fell silent. “I’m trying to lead you young scholars from the darkness into the light.”

After the bell rang, Nick, never shy, asked the girls if they’d like to come over and play the new version of Glow Ball, one of his dad’s most popular games. Izzy, equally bold, said, “Sure! We love Glow Ball! You want to, Sophie?”

Sophie shrugged slightly and glanced over at Ethan with a reserved smile. “Yeah, OK.”