Self-Interest, Imprisonment, Liberation

Whether or not to rat on another is not a dilemma faced by the prisoners in book VII of the Republic. For, to begin with, they are not even aware of their imprisonment. Still, Plato's scenario is relevant to contemporary economic behavior, even if it is not as widely recognized as such as is the Prisoner's Dilemma. For, it suggests not only that Self-Interest can be the product of conditioning, and, hence, unfree, but, further, that 'freedom' can be as inculcated an illusion as any shadow-play on a cave wall. So, if Plato is right, government non-interference, choice between competing brands, etc., are phenomena of an at best superficial 'freedom', and only reinforce the underlying imprisonment--the Self-Interest that occludes any vision of the objective Good that is truly liberating.