Analysis Of The Book ' Allegory Of The Cave ' By Plato

The Allegory of the Cave, also know as The Analogy of the Cave, Plato's Cave or Parable of the Cave is presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work “The Republic “ as a theory concerning the perceptions of human kind and compares the effects of education to the lack of education on our observations. The passage is written as dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and his teacher Socrates.

In the ‘The Allegory of the Cave’, Plato uses a philosophical situation to help us as the reader to examine our perception of life by what is around us. Plato uses such an abstract situation to show that we can mistake the information that we gain due to our position in a situation for truth.

On the surface of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” it is just a simple piece, but the main purpose of the piece is to explain people living in a world of face value and having individuals break free from the main idea to create a new sense of what the world is truly about. In here, Plato uses the writing style of allegory to encompass the use of imagery and symbolism to explain his purpose. He also uses very clever dialogue with constant repetition to represent a bigger idea about the philosophy with chained up people living in a cave of shadows.

The "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the basic opinion that all we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of the ultimate Forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. In his story, Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. In "Allegory of the Cave" there there are two elements to the story; the fictional metaphor of the prisoners, and the philosophical opinion in that the allegory is supposed to represent, hence presenting us with the allegory itself.

Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" presents a vision of humans as slaves chained in front of a fire observing the shadows of things on the cave wall in front of them. The shadows are the only "reality" the slaves know. Plato argues that there is a basic flaw in how we humans mistake our limited perceptions as reality, truth and goodness. The allegory reveals how that flaw affects our education, our spirituality and our politics.

Plato’s logical strategy in the allegory of the cave is of deductive reasoning. Plato uses a cave containing people bound by chains which constrict their neck and legs in such a way that they are unable to turn around and there is a fire roaring behind them casting shadows on the wall. Since the prisoners cannot turn their heads to see what is casting the shadow the only thing they can perceive are the shadows and the sounds that seem to becoming from them. This is what Plato argues in the allegory of the cave “To them, I said, the truth would literally be nothing but the shadows of the images.”(The Allegory of the Cave Plato). Since these prisoners know nothing outside of the cave they are ignorant of the “light” and are content on

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

Plato’s Allegory of the cave is one of his best-known works, an excerpt of “The Republic” whose inclusion has been fully earned through the inclusion of different percepts of philosophy such as epistemology, individualism, ethics, human nature, etc. In the allegory, Plato describes human beings as prisoners in a dark cave confined to a singular position by the use of chains. This ensures that what the prisoners perceive to be reality is only what they physically see and in the allegory, that is the puppet shadows that are forecasted on the wall which the prisoners face. In this allegory, Plato strives to show that, what is perceived as reality could be the exact opposite and therefore not everything is what it seems to be. The prisoners are chained and are unable to turn their heads to see what lies behind them. However, it is well described that behind the prisoners there is a fire and behind the fire, there are puppeteers who are able to move about while holding puppets that cast shadows on the walls that the human beings are able to see without ever seeing the puppets themselves. More so, the prisoners are neither able to hear the real voices of the puppeteers, instead what they hear are the echoes of their sounds. Plato’s allegory presents a metaphor which questions the way people believe and perceive what reality really is in their sensual form.

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.

The “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato represents the differences in the way we perceive reality and what we believe is real. In his story, Plato starts by saying that in a cave, there are prisoners chained down and are forced to look at a wall. The prisoners are unable to turn their heads to see what is going on behind them and are completely bound to the floor. Behind the prisoners, puppeteers hide and cast shadows on the wall in line with the prisoners’ sight, thus giving the prisoners their only sense of reality. What happens in the passage is not told from the prisoners’ point of view but is actually a conversation held between Socrates and Glaucon (Plato’s brother).

In this paper I will argue that Plato’s views on reality are problematic as they hold some errors. First I will outline Plato’s argument on the existence of two worlds and his belief in Forms in the understanding of reality. I will use his illustration known as Allegory of the Cave to demonstrate his argument as well as discuss some strengths and weaknesses within his argument. Finally, I will suggest an alternative to Plato’s argument, with Aristotle and his argument on reality. Plato looked at metaphysics, the study of the nature and structure of reality, but also epistemology, the study of knowledge, because to understand knowledge we must understand our reality and visa verse (Chaffee 2009, p. 222-223).

The "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the basic opinion that all we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of the ultimate Forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. In his story, Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. In "Allegory of the Cave" there there are two elements to the story; the fictional metaphor of the prisoners, and the philosophical opinion in that the allegory is supposed to represent, hence presenting us with the allegory itself.

In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave,” he suggests that there are two different forms of vision, a “mind’s eye” and a “bodily eye.” The “bodily eye” is a metaphor for the senses. While inside the cave, the prisoners function only with this eye. The “mind’s eye” is a higher level of thinking, and is mobilized only when the prisoner is released into the outside world. This eye does not exist within the cave; it only exists in the real, perfect world.

Within the ship as presented above, a chaos reigns which is, according to Plato, similar to the situation in a democratic society. The disagreements between the sailors on the ship symbolically represent the instability of a democratic society. The shipmaster symbolizes the masses, something quite powerful and strong, but at the same time and due to his nearsightedness and deafness, easily tricked and seduced by persuasion and lies, having for consequence that unable people govern. A comparison can be made with Good but uneducated and stupid voters who, because of their inability to perceive the truth, allow themselves to be cheated and loaded with empty demagogy and lies. On the other side, the sailors who ignore or ridicule the true helmsman, are benighted individuals, just as the prisoners who live in the dark in the allegory of the cave. They are like the ruler in a democratic society, namely, the masses, who are out of ignorance blind to see the truth, and therefore unable to determine the direction in which the state should be led. And just as knowledge of the stars, winds, and waves is necessary for the genuine art of steering, so is knowledge of ideas necessary for the righteous and just governance.

Knowing that Aristotle’s was Plato’s ‘student’, one tends to think that these two philosophers will agree with all their beliefs. Although these philosophers share the basic understanding of some theories, both philosophers have different positions and beliefs despite that Aristotle’s was very influenced by Plato. Both philosophers defended their principle differences of their understanding of the world by describing their beliefs in metaphysics, anthropology, and epistemology.