Solution: Spelunking
Answer: HEADLIGHT
Written by Ella Sheffield and Nathan Sheffield
The central conceit of the puzzle is Plato’s Cave. The images on the top are silhouetted versions of an object that corresponds to the name of a philosopher, in alphabetical order. Each image is repeated a number of times, which gives an index.
The paragraphs below the image each describe a cave and a philosophical thought experiment or concept that was invented by one of the clued philosophers. The answer is obtained by indexing into the name of each cave using the corresponding philosopher.
| Philosopher | Index | Philosophical Idea | Cave Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Singer | 2 | Drowning child | THRIHNUKAGIGUR |
| John Locke | 3 | Tabula rasa | REED FLUTE CAVE |
| Thomas Hobbes | 3 | "Nasty, brutish, short" | FRASASSI CAVE |
| John Stuart Mill | 8 | Tyranny of the majority | CARLSBAD CAVERN |
| Judith Butler | 1 | Performative gender | LURAY CAVERNS |
| Ned Block | 3 | China brain | WAITOMO GLOWWORM CAVES |
| Adam Smith | 4 | Invisible hand | FINGAL'S CAVE |
| Francis Bacon | 7 | Scientific method | MAMMOTH CAVE |
| Philippa Foot | 6 | Trolley problem | ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL |
The full answer is therefore HEADLIGHT.