John Peterson and I discuss the allegory of the cave, what it adds to the "ship of state", in what sense life in the cave is "natural", patterns of descent and ascent (and ascent and descent), Socrates's hopes for Glaucon, the status of images and image-making in the Republic, and Platonic heroism. John surprises himself (and me) by proposing that images appeal to us because we desire to be tyrants. Brief appearances are made by Aristophanes, Nietzsche, and Kelly Clarkson.
