One way to begin the philosophical enterprise— perhaps the original way—is to
walk out of the cave, leave the city, climb the mountain, fashion for oneself . . . an
objective and universal standpoint. Then one describes the terrain of everyday life
from far away, so that it loses its par tic u lar contours and takes on a general
shape. But I mean to stand in the cave, in the city, on the ground. Another way of
doing philosophy is to interpret to one’s fellow citizens the world of meanings
that we share