Plato was a rationalist. He believed that sense should be in control of will. In one of his most important works, Plato describes the ideal state which in his opinion is conditioned by people’s insight. In his book “The Republic”, Plato recounts the allegory of the cave.

Plato describes a cave in which a group of people have been imprisoned with their backs to the entrance of the cave since birth. At the entrance of the cave is a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners, people parade across throwing shadows on the far wall of the cave – shadows which the prisoners can see. These shadows form the real world of the prisoners.

The point is that some people live in a shadow world believing that the shadows are the real world. Therefore, these people act irrationally. Even though it is difficult to free oneself from the bonds that keep one a prisoner, it is possible to move out of the cave into the light and the real world.

We take the liberty of drawing a parallel with Business Intelligence. With the right information and knowledge, Business Intelligence will try to bring business decision makers into the light – enabling them to base their decisions on matters which are more than mere ‘shadows of the real world’.