Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Plato is known to many as one of the most influential and greatest philosophers to have lived. Plato represents his idea of reality and the truth about what we perceive through one of his famous writings, “The Allegory of the Cave”. The philosophical writing is in the form of an allegory, which is “a story in which the characters and situations actually represent people and situations in another context”(Pg. 448). In the story, Plato uses the technique of creating a conversation between his teacher Socrates and his brother Glaucon.

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The prisoners have been in these conditions since their earliest stages of life. The cave, the wall, and the chains are all the prisoners have ever known. Behind the prisoners, there was a raised path. Above the walkway was a platform, where there was a fire burning, and in front of the fire, was a parapet, which as Plato described it , was like that of the screens Puppeteers use to hide themselves and have the puppets be visible . Each and every day, the prisoners see nothing, but the shadows of the objects and people passing between them and the fire. For their entire lives, the prisoners are exposed to nothing but those images and the sounds made by those walking around. These shadows are all they have ever known, in essence; these shadows are their only “reality”. As time passed, the prisoners would grow accustomed to these sights, later on the prisoners would match the objects with names and the familiar sounds to the images of the shadows (514; Appendix A). In discussing the allegory with Glaucon, Socrates toys around the concept of what could happen to a prisoner should they be released after having lived their lives in the cave, with the only knowledge the possess of the world, are the images and sounds by the wall.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave is also termed as the Analogy of the Cave, Plato's Cave, or the Parable of the Cave. It was used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate "our nature in its education and want of education". It comprises of a fictional dialogue between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon. Socrates gives a description of a group of people who spent their lifetime facing a blank wall chained to the wall of a cave. These people saw and tried to assign forms of the shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them. These shadows as put by Socrates, are what the prisoners can view close to reality (Law 2003). He further compares a philosopher to the prisoner who is freed from the cave and comprehends that he can envision the true form of reality instead of the shadows which the prisoners saw in the cave and these shadows do not depict reality at all.

One of Plato’s more famous writings, The Allegory of the Cave, Plato outlines the story of a man who breaks free of his constraints and comes to learn of new ideas and levels of thought that exist outside of the human level of thinking. However, after having learned so many new concepts, he returns to his fellow beings and attempts to reveal his findings but is rejected and threatened with death. This dialogue is an apparent reference to his teacher’s theories in philosophy and his ultimate demise for his beliefs but is also a relation to the theory of the Divided Line. This essay will analyze major points in The Allegory of the Cave and see how it relates to the Theory of the Divided Line. Also, this

I. INTRODUCTION Plato's Allegory of the Cave describes a situation involving all people seeking knowledge and the truth, unified by this goal. The citizens chained together never see the reality, but instead the shadows being cast by it. Furthermore, they cannot speak with those around them regarding their suspicions, as the chains prevent them from doing so. To a college student, the Allegory of the Cave describes the goal that is sought after from education. College is a place students go to become critical thinkers, to question assumptions, and to master knowledge in order to move towards understanding.

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave where the prisoners have been since their childhood. One of the prisoners breaks free and leaves the cave. The sun blinds him because his eyes were accustomed to the dark. When the prisoner was removed from the cave and brought into the world, the disorientation would be even harsher; the light of the sun would be even more vivid than the fire. But as his eye adjust, the freed prisoner would be able to observe beyond the shadows. As he begins to comprehend his new world, and sees that the sun is the source of life and goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning. He sees aspects and reflections in the water. I would believe after he spends some

An initial perception of Plato's parable "Allegory of the Cave" can be somewhat vague or ambiguous which can make the reading experience a little intimidating at first. To receive a comprehensive awareness of its content, an analytical approach is recommended. The narrator is Socrates, Plato's mentor. It appears that Plato has been greatly intrigued by his teacher. Plato recorded this dialogue between Socrates, his teacher and Glaucon, his older brother.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave suggests that people are just prisoners in a cave and the as others and objects periodically pass by the prisoner can only see the shadows which eventually become their reality. Since that is all that they know the shadows are their truth and what is real. Every so often one of the prisoners freed and is now able to go and venture out in the world and to their surprise finds that the shadows are not what was real. When they return to the cave to enlighten their fellow prisoners they are usually met with hostile responses.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” teaches us about prisoners in a cave they have been there most if not all there life, there is a fire projecting images of shadows made up of different puppets, shown by the guards. The prisoners are chained down so they cannot find the truth until the guard lets one of them go and the prisoner is forced to see the world for the first time as an individual not what the certain few want you to think or see. It is talking about ignorant people who believe whatever they hear or see in there perceived circle like people believe what they hear on T.V. , or people who think politicians and leaders only mindset is what’s best for the people. I once believed when I was a little kid that the Tooth Fairy was real. I of course learned the truth when I woke up to my parent giving me a Nickle and took the baby tooth.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave represents many things, but as a whole it represents the understanding of knowledge and what to do with the knowledge that has been gained. The Allegory of the Cave goes on to compare our growth with knowledge to prisoners coming out of a cave. The cave refers to the general amount of knowlege that everyone has. The people coming out of the cave is the ascent to gaining new knowledge.

I will discuss my view on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and how he expresses his philosophical views on reality versus belief and the process humankind will undergo to achieve enlightenment. Plato believed that education was teaching the population towards what was real and important. For people to achieve enlightenment they would have to truly understand things for themselves. Enlightened individuals to Plato have a connection to reality, unlike the rest of humanity. In order to have a good society, Plato believed it must be ruled by wise and the educated.

Plato’s Republic uses a series of metaphors to explain the nature of The Good. Though this is the primary concern of this selection of the work, there is also an underlying message about the ultimate fate of the philosopher found especially through Plato’s allegory of the cave. Plato asserts that it is the philosopher’s job, once they, themselves, have ascended to higher knowledge, to spread knowledge to the unenlightened, even though it will ultimately cost them happiness and potentially, their life. The first task of the philosopher is to scale upwards from the allegorical cave of the material world into the realm of intellectual forms. The necessity of this first task is evident in the all-powerful, yet mysterious force that compels the

His allegory of the cave would speak of how they would be able to find reality by simply going out of the cave. The prisoners knew their reality because they are bounded by the fact that the shadows were just only their reality. These shadows were the representation of how we view the world, that what we see are just mere shadows or a reflection of what is real. Plato believed that the real world is not what we see that surrounds us; rather it is only the world of forms that is real and unchanging. This is also known as the “one and many”, that this one being the perfect in the world of forms and on the other hand the many is being the imperfect or the world of

Specifically, the prisoners are unaware of what reality is like outside of the cave, which makes it difficult for them to form a cognitive interpretation similar to that of the main character. This example of the representation of human nature portrays the life in a cave with false perception of reality. Plato’s view is to separate the invisible from the visible through the illustration of the “divided line” in efforts to obtain the pure forms of the ultimate good. In connection to our lives, Plato depicts the stages in the cave to the stages in our own lives. To awaken the unconsciousness, one must use experience to grasp reality which will then lead to the developments of new senses.