Allegory Of The Cave Analysis

Plato illustrates the cave as “a cell down under the ground” filled with pitch darkness. Including, two people who never knew reality. Shackled to the chains onto a seat for the rest of their lives as they look at a wall of nothingness. Meanwhile, mesmerized while watching “the shadows of artefacts would constitute the only reality” these people

Book VI further supports Socrates’ claim that the philosophers are not in fact supremely virtuous (485 a-487 a). This is important because in Book IX Socrates discusses at length how the just are virtuous and that being both of these things is what leads to the ultimate good and happiness. Furthermore, this book provides another advocacy for the goodness of philosophy in and of itself.

In the parable, “Allegory of the Cave,” the literal action of being blinded can best be summed up as an effect on the freed prisoner caused by the sudden environmental change the prisoner passes via each case. The first case demonstrated when the prisoner is freed, and he is literally blinded by the removal of darkness from his regular environment. The second case being the reciprocal of the first, in which the sudden change from a life of light is removed and the prisoner is once again forced to adapt to a somewhat unfamiliar environment, darkness. By the way of allegory, Plato goes on to explain that because the prisoners could only see a limited degree of life, they were trapped and deprived of certain fruits the world has to offer. On the flip side, once the prisoner is released and then brought back to his original state, he once again finds himself face to face with the all too familiar feeling of blindness. This blindness in turn creates a feeling humbleness that is equally as important as the first case. The prisoner’s intellectual journey opens up a philosophical approach to finding truth and wisdom that all men should pursue in the name of the greater good.

In Plato’s voyage to determine what a philosopher king is, he presents us with the Allegory of the Cave. He explains how leaders should be educated, versus the society as a whole, and he leaves us with a significant message. Aside from The Allegory of the Cave being a primary puzzle piece of Plato’s ideal city, it can also be interpreted in many different ways. The predominant one being that human beings, especially the young, get easily manipulated by persuasive people who are looking to divert one’s attention from real life problems, and who in return fail to think for themselves.

In the wonder of a person arises two causes that leads a person to either see a mere reflection of a Form or learn the value of a Form. In “Book 10” and “Allegory of the Cave” in “Book 7” of The Republic by Plato; Socrates and Glaucon discuss the need of a State’s citizens to recognize that all Forms come from one creator and the rest or imitations and that a citizen must learn to question, believe and then retell inforamtion learned to others.

The synopsis: The Matrix, the excerpts from The Allegory of the Cave and Meditation I of the Things of Which We May Doubt. The writing makes a person reevaluate what is real, or are we part of a bigger system that control our every action to be moved like chess pieces to judge our reactions or; are we dreaming. The three writing are plausible but shows skepticism and justification. Reality is based on sense perception. (Dew & Foreman p.41)

The point that is being made in the Allegory of the cave, is the fact that many of us only see things from one perspective. The way we see things is not always the reality of what it is. We as humans tend to rely on each other’s opinions instead of seeing our own reality. I think Plato is calling out humans and telling us we need to see things for ourselves to see the reality of things, we shouldn’t always agree or see things the same way as everyone

At first, the light blinds him– but eventually, Plato would be able to see clearly and, in doing so; he would see the differences between reality and the shadows of the cave. From knowing this difference, he is given the chance to attain true knowledge and philosophical enlightenment.

The story, The Allegory of the Cave, is a dialogue between Socrates and his brother. This story represents what we believe is reality and what really is. Plato believes that using your five senses to gain knowledge is only an opinion and to attain real knowledge, you must first achieve it through philosophical reasoning. In this story he uses prisoners, shadows, a fire, a walkway, puppeteers, and the sun to explain to his readers what the evident truth is.

The Allegory of the Cave is an allegory or metaphor used by Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 B.C.). Plato uses the Allegory of the Cave to represent the ascent from opinion to knowledge (Kranak, 2002) and ultimately enlightenment. For Plato, opinion was belief, hearsay, imagination and sense experience, for example, experiences that involve sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feelings. Plato proposed that this type of empirical thinking was unreliable and fallacious (Dennick, 2008). In comparison, knowledge is justified true belief, belief or opinion that needs to be justified with evidence and logical reasoning (Daniel, 2003).

The things we are supposed to understand about Plato’s cave are how we end up in life, we start to learn at baby steps, and then we build upon each step. This is not only just the four ways of thinking, but the four ways of life (Pg. 322). Plato wants us to understand that everyone starts at the lowest level and then throughout life we build on each of the stages. Therefore, when he looks at the cave in a life perspective we understand that everyone doesn’t make it to each different level. That is why we have different professions in this world, because in the early ages we had warriors, workers, and kings. The kings made it through all 4 ways of life or thinking, and the warriors only made it through half of the 4 ways. The significant between the cave and Plato’s philosophy is that the cave represents his theory of

Plato has been documented as one of history’s great thinkers, he was a student of Socrates learned how to think of the greater aspects in life and asking questions about life. He created a school for others to learn, to question the truth and broaden their horizons. In Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, he concentrated on human perception and willingness to advance knowledge by looking beyond surroundings and seeking the truth.

My personal philosophy aligns a lot with Plato and Augustine. These two philosophers thought almost just like me when it came to changing the world or trying to make it great and Augustine believing that God created everything is how I feel to.

In the story Allegory of the Cave the people whom are prisoners are trapped in a cave, they believe the cave in which they live in is all there is to their world and are perfectly fine with that. The dark cave and the chained prisoners are an example of the world we live in, an ignorant world with ignorant people. The prisoners believe that seeing shadows is the norm, but they have no self-awareness that these shadows actually exist “outside the cave”. Until one day a prisoner is released to see the outside world. It was difficult dragging the prisoner out of the cave but when he makes it out of the cave to see the outside world he eventually learns about the new world and realizes his former life was a complete lie. The philosopher in this

One of the world’s most revered philosophers, Plato, was born in 428 BC. As a young man, Plato, became a devout student of Socrates. Plato quickly adopted Socrates’ teachings and turned his studies toward the question of virtue and noble character. After the execution of his beloved mentor, Plato founded the first English university called the Academy. He wanted thinkers to have a place were they could word toward better government for Greek cities. Over the duration of his life Plato wrote many books, and his most influential work is The Republic. Out of The Republic comes a chapter entitled “Allegory of the Cave”.(“Plato”)