Allegory Of The Cave

The Republic by Plato examines many aspects of the human condition. In this piece of writing Plato reveals the sentiments of Socrates as they define how humans function and interact with one another. He even more closely Socrates looks at morality and the values individuals hold most important. One value looked at by Socrates and his colleagues is the principle of justice. Multiple definitions of justice are given and Socrates analyzes the merit of each. As the group defines justice they show how self-interest shapes the progression of their arguments and contributes to the definition of justice.

“What is justice?” This is a question that men have struggled with answering for centuries. Justice should be defined for the sake of all people, especially by rulers who attempt to make fair laws so that their society functions in an orderly fashion. In Book 1 of The Republic, Plato attempts to define exactly what justice is. To help determine this definition, he speaks through the philosopher protagonist of Socrates. Justice is first brought up in The Republic during Socrates’ trip to Piraeus. While traveling Socrates ends up gathering with his interlocutors and together, they talk about justice and how one would define it. Socrates debates with the men about the definition of justice and is presented with a definition of

The Republic is considered to be one of Plato’s most storied legacies. Plato recorded many different philosophical ideals in his writings. Addressing a wide variety of topics from justice in book one, to knowledge, enlightenment, and the senses as he does in book seven. In his seventh book, when discussing the concept of knowledge, he is virtually addressing the cliché “seeing is believing”, while attempting to validate the roots of our knowledge. By his use of philosophical themes, Plato is able to further his points on enlightenment, knowledge, and education. In this allegory, the depictions of humans as they are chained, their only knowledge of the world is what is seen inside the cave. Plato considers what would happen to people

In Book IV of The Republic, written by Plato, Socrates makes an argument for why an individual should strive to be just, or more importantly, why being just is more profitable than being unjust to the individual. The three parts of an individual: rational, spirited, and appetitive, must all strive to pursue truth in the just individual, but it is possible that this requirement may not be met while still profiting the individual. Through an analogy between justice in the city and justice in the individual, Socrates makes an argument that is impossible to accept on the basis of false assumption. The assumptions that the rational part of the individual must rule over the spirited and appetitive parts, and that just actions always engender justice and unjust actions engender injustice, can easily be shown to be false under certain circumstances.

In Plato’s The Republic and The Apology, the topic of justice is examined from multiple angles in an attempt to discover what justice is, as well as why living a just life is desirable. Plato, writing through Socrates, identifies in The Republic what he thought justice was through the creation of an ideal city and an ideal soul. Both the ideal city and the ideal soul have three components which, when all are acting harmoniously, create what Socrates considers to be justice. Before he outlines this city and soul, he listens to the arguments of three men who hold popular ideas of the period. These men act to legitimize Socrates’ arguments because he finds logical errors in all of their opinions. In The Apology, a different, more down-to-Earth, Socrates is presented who, through his self-defense in court, reveals a different, even contradictory, view of the justice presented in The Republic. In this paper, the full argument of justice from The Republic will be examined, as well as the possible inconsistencies between The Republic and The Apology.

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Plato describes, with a dialectic between Socrates and his student Glaucon, a world in which humans are chained to the wall of a dark cave, seeing only shadows but believing them to be reality. Glaucon at first abhors the idea of staying the cave, but through careful manipulation, Socrates convinces him to return to the cave. Socrates’ and therefore Plato's words are carefully measured and detached, to appeal to his intellectual audience of mainly philosophers to follow in Glaucon’s footsteps and return to the cave in order to govern how Plato sees most fit. Building up Glaucon’s confidence by reversing his role as a teacher and complimenting him, Socrates creates a sense of responsibility to a greater cause

Plato’s account of Socrates’ defense against charges of corrupting the youth and heresy, reveal the ancient teacher’s view of justice as fairness and support of rule of law. In the Apology, Socrates faces a moral dilemma: to either accept his punishment for crimes he did not commit or to accept the assistance of his friends and escape death by the hand of the state. His choice to accept death in order to maintain rule of law reveals his belief of justice. He beliefs his punishment to be just not because he committed the crimes but because his sentence came through a legal process to which he consented. By sparing his life, he would weaken the justice system of Athens which he values above his own existence. This difference between the two men’s beliefs regarding justice draws the sharpest contrast in their views of effective leadership and government.

What is justice? In Plato’s Republic, this question is asked between Socrates and other conversationalists. In the beginning of this work, many different definitions of justice are debated. However, to provide clarity, Socrates proposes that, instead of discussing what justice is, they should apply the term holistically and try to imagine justice in an “ideal city.” From this, the city of Kallipolis was created.

In The Allegory of the Cave, Greek philosopher, Socrates, explains to his follower named Glaucon about what it like to be a philosopher through an allegory(Boeree). According to Socrates, a philosopher is someone who values wisdom and is not afraid to accept truth (Boree). In this allegory, Socrates tells Glaucon about a cave inhabited by people who are chained on their necks and legs and the only things they can see in front of them are shadows of objects. What the people do not know is that there are puppeteers making these shadows behind a fire in the cave and the people in the cave believe that these illusions are real. Plato then tells Glaucon about what would happen if one of the people in the cave went out of the cave and saw what

It shows how people are afraid of change and the unknown. Plato’s curious way of thinking poses a serious question. Are there absolute truths and to what extent humans can and do participate in those truths? The story Allegory of the Cave is Plato’s theory on how we attain true knowledge.

This paper argues that Socrates makes a plausible case for justice. Socrates raised two main questions in the first two books of Plato’s Republic, what is justice? And why should we act justly? Thrasymachus and Glaucon both have different and more negative views of justice than Socrates. Throughout books one and two, Socrates, Glaucon and Thrasymachus go back and forth discussing the definition and application of justice in society. He starts his discussions with Glaucon and Thrasymachus by stating simply, “What is justice?”

This paper discussed The Allegory of The Cave in Plato's Republic, and tries to unfold the messages Plato wishes to convey with regard to his conception of reality, knowledge and education.

In the beginning of the Republic by Plato we are introduced to a very intriguing concept: justice. We are the witness of the interesting path Socrates goes in order to find a suitable definition for justice. He has many deputes with the people that is listening to him and it seems as if justice does not have a clear definition. However, Socrates seems to finally have a concrete definition of justice in book IV with the help of Glaucon who servers as a liaison for this argument. Socrates has to deconstruct the way our minds work in order to find a definition his listeners could agree on.

In the world of Plato, there are many a wonder that leave common folk confused and babbling to their mother about senseless ideas. These, I think are some of the most amazing questions that humans have ever asked as a species. In Republic one, Socrates, Glaucon and their associates set out to answer a seemingly easy question turned complex; what is justice? Now, most people would think most nothing about this, thinking that there is nothing more to justice than what the law sets forth. However, as I have read through the first few books of the Republic, I have gained a much deeper insight in what it means to be truly just.

In this tremendously vibrant work of prose, Socrates comes full circle in his promise to explain why justice is a good in itself. By using the most extreme instance in which wisdom of the soul is necessary, Socrates displays the consequences of leading a life below the divided line. The myth of Er, then, is a fitting end to The Republic, as an answer to a question