Allegory Of The Cave Essay

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.

There are several themes represented in the allegory of the cave, one of the first themes you come across while reading the Allegory of the Cave is ignorance. The chains binding them to the cave could merely be interpreted as a metaphor for ignorance, as if they wanted to fulfil enlightenment, all they would have to do is ask questions and seek the truth; however they all decide to stay put in the cave and accept the reality presented to them. The reason for this ignorance is because the cave is steep and rigid with sharp rocks; it’s a tricky journey throughout. The prisoners are deep in the cave and struggle to see the

Plato who was a Greek philosopher was born around the year 428 BCE, where he was known for opening an academy. The academy was considered the first university in the western world. In “The Allegory of the Cave”, three prisoners were tied up and could only see the shadows that reflected from the wall. They have been living in the same cave as prisoner for practically there whole life. The shad`ows represent things that are believed to be true. One prisoner got free and experienced the reality of the world but the other prisoners just laugh at him when he comes back. Plato is telling people In “The Allegory of the Cave”, the rhetorical appeal is a metaphor of the sun and symbolism.

In chapter 7 of Plato's book The Republic, Socrates describes the importance and benefits of education and philosophy. He makes specific points and examples to show that without growing humanity would suffer. Also, Socrates also shows how one man learning can change a whole group of people. Socrates proves that education opens the eyes of many and he does that by using the allegory of the cave. Socrates describes the allegory of the cave by describing a story about a group of prisoners that have lived in a dark cave their whole lives.

When he first sees this, he is confused and angry, as he thought the inside of the cave was the only way to live. He then goes back into the cave to tell the other prisoners, but since they have had that illusion for so long

This quote shows that the prisoners

Plato, a student of Socrates, in his book “The Republic” wrote an allegory known as “Plato's Cave”. In Plato's allegory humans are trapped within a dark cave where they can only catch glimpses of

The Allegory of the cave is a story written by Plato an ancient philosopher who presented this work in The Republic to describe the truth about reality. Plato believed that reality and the truth are both hard to find. One must find knowledge of himself, discovering truth that is a process and to make known self understanding. Plato wrote this story as a discussion between two greek philosophers, Socrates and Glaucon. Socrates asks Glaucon what would it be like if people lived in the dark where all they could only see shadows from the fire behind them.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave signifies political and logical enlightenment, illustrated through four stages. The allegory was posed by Plato to illustrate that seeking knowledge is essential in closing the gap between our own individual subjective realities and what Plato deemed to be absolute truth and understanding. The allegory is an element pulled from The Republic, specifically setting the stage for Plato’s introduction of what constitutes a just state, and Plato’s theory of the tripartite soul and state parallel. The allegory sets the scene of several prisoners who have been chained inside a cave since childhood, behind them fire burns, and a short wall where people are passing behind the wall carrying objects. The prisoners are chained

Also, inside the cave are people who are held captive with chains tied to their neck and feet, which makes their movement extremely difficult and virtually impossible. At the same time, Plato also talks about the world that lies outside the cave. However, between these two

In the story The Allegory Of The Cave the author Plato identifies how the people in the cave are situated in the parable. The people in the cave are shackled against the wall and can’t move their legs or necks to look around. Their only source of light is the fire from behind them. The Allegory Of The Cave explains “since childhood, shackled by the legs and necks”. That’s why they could not move around to look . Also it explains “from a fire that casts it’s glow toward them from behind them. That’s their only source of light that they can see in the cave. The Allegory Of The Cave relates to are life today by being one sided are whole lives because that’s how we was raised to be.

At first the sunlight hurts his eyes, but then as he moves further from the shadows, he has a clearer view of the reality. “...turn his head, and walk with eyes lifted to the light; all these movements would be painful, and he would be too dazzled to make out the objects whose shadows he had been used to see” (Cornford, 51). The sunlight is the truth. Being blind by the sun is the violent change from darkness, unawareness, to light, enlightenment. Although the prisoner does not understand immediately after exiting the cave, he does take steps to become closer to reality. He looks at shadows before moving onto reflections, the object themselves, and finally the sun. At last, he recognizes the cause of everything around him. Once he becomes enlightened, he descends back into the cave to share his wisdom, only to appear ridiculous. The other prisoners are so accustomed into their own beliefs that they can accept even the possibility of a change. These prisoners are the people in this world who refuse to walk into the sunlight. The sharp pain from the sun, the violent change in viewpoint, would be too much and people would rather retreat back into the cave, where they can be ignorant since it is easier to accept. The latter would be accepting what they know is wrong and challenge their entire belief

In Plato’s novel, The Republic, we analyzed throughout book VII the allegory of the cave and the aspects that contribute towards its meaning. Through symbolic and allegorical context, the reader is about to decipher the meaning behind the cave and the various “levels” contributed towards it. The concept of the caves allegory holds a substantial influence over humanity by stating that things in the physical world are flawed perceptions of ideal forms. The connotation pertaining to the cave can be interpreted as metaphor about the prisoners, detained their entire life in a dark, isolated cave with no direction or perceptual experience of the literal world.

They climb into the cave, and after some struggle due to the prisoners fear, he drags him out of the cave. The prisoner is instantly blinded by the sun light, the prisoner struggles in the beginning to cope with what is happening and wishes to go back "home". As soon as his eyes normalize to the sunlight, and he sees everything normally: colors, trees, rivers, birds, butterflies, everything. Everything is beautiful to the newly freed prisoner; the person from the outside instructs the prisoner to go back into the cave and guide his old prison mates into the truth of reality. At first, he is

The man observes everything through an unconventional way of thinking and reason. When he returns back into the cave, the others do not recognize him nor accept anything he says to have witnessed outside those walls. This is because he is the only one to develop a new sense of perception and understanding of which the other prisoners are incapable of comprehending.