The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle and the Struggles for the Soul of Western Civilization is the seventh non-fiction book written by American historian Arthur L.

In addition to Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, the book covers the competing and successive Hellenistic schools of philosophy: Epicureans, Stoics, Cynics, and Skeptics.

That's the overall theme of The Cave and the Light and how that creative tension reflects the twin intellectual legacies of Aristotle and Plato, the greatest philosophers the world has ever known.In The Wall Street Journal, Roger Kimball describes the book as "a rollicking trip from classical Athens to 21st-century New York" and Herman as "an able storyteller".

"[5] Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries recommends the book as "an introduction to Western intellectual thought", but also notes oversimplification as an issue for advanced readers.

[10] In the Sun Herald, the review mentions Herman's "wildly interesting approach" to his theory of the battle between the teachings of Plato and Aristotle in the Western world.