Arthur Herman has now written the definitive sequel to his New York Times bestseller, How the Scots Invented the Modern World,
and extends the themes of the book—which sold half a million copies
worldwide—back to the ancient Greeks and forward to the age of the Internet. The Cave and the Light is a magisterial
account of how the two greatest thinkers of the ancient world, Plato and
Aristotle, laid the foundations of Western culture—and how their rivalry shaped
the essential features of our culture down to the present day.
Plato came from a wealthy, connected Athenian family and
lived a comfortable upper-class lifestyle until he met an odd little man named
Socrates, who showed him a new world of ideas and ideals. Socrates taught Plato
that a man must use reason to attain wisdom, and that the life of a lover of
wisdom, a philosopher, was the pinnacle of achievement. Plato dedicated himself
to living that ideal and went on to create a school, his famed Academy, to
teach others the path to enlightenment through contemplation.
However, the same Academy that spread Plato’s teachings also
fostered his greatest rival. Born to a family of Greek physicians, Aristotle
had learned early on the value of observation and hands-on experience. Rather
than rely on pure contemplation, he insisted that the truest path to knowledge
is through empirical discovery and exploration of the world around us.
Aristotle, Plato’s most brilliant pupil, thus settled on a philosophy very
different from his instructor’s and launched a rivalry with profound effects on
The two men disagreed on the fundamental purpose of the
philosophy. For Plato, the image of the cave summed up man’s destined path,
emerging from the darkness of material existence to the light of a higher and
more spiritual truth. Aristotle thought otherwise. Instead of rising above
mundane reality, he insisted, the philosopher’s job is to explain how the real
world works, and how we can find our place in it. Aristotle set up a school in
Athens to rival Plato’s Academy: the Lyceum. The competition that ensued
between the two schools, and between Plato and Aristotle, set the world on an
intellectual adventure that lasted through the Middle Ages and Renaissance and
that still continues today.
From Martin Luther (who named Aristotle the third great
enemy of true religion, after the devil and the pope) to Karl Marx (whose
utopian views rival Plato’s), heroes and villains of history have been inspired
and incensed by these two master philosophers—but never outside their
Accessible, riveting, and eloquently written, The Cave and the Light provides a
stunning new perspective on the Western world, certain to open eyes and stir
debate. Download and start listening now!