And Contrast Plato's Allegory Of The Cave And Machiavelli

Plato, an Ancient Greek and highly esteemed philosopher, is best known for his text, The Republic. More specifically, though, it is his “Allegory of the Cave” in Book VII of this text that draws most scholars to him. This specific allegory has been used by writers for hundreds of years, including Frederick Douglass. In his work, “Narrative of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself”, Douglass takes his own personal journey from slavery to freedom and applies it to the pre-existing form that Plato created in his allegory. The parallels between these two texts are uncanny and it does not take much for the reader to see that Douglass’ narrative is much more than the physical journey he describes - that he is in fact escaping from the cave that Plato once illustrated.

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

Both Philosophers Aristotle and Plato have very different perspectives according to their metaphysics. Plato explains his metaphysics through the story of the allegory of the cave which conveys his story of the Divided Line, while on the other hand Aristotle explains his metaphysics through his idea of actuality versus potentiality which leds him to the discussion of substance. Plato explains his metaphysics in a sense where he mainly discusses the idea of knowledge and truth through ideas, while Aristotle on the other hand explains his metaphysics in a real life sense offering the stronger system for being able to break down his belief in great detail applying it to the real world, which can stem out to being applied to everything.

While interpreting Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave’’ in which is a representation that described a narrative of the society of people in before Christ years. I realized how there was a major comparison of people in today’s society that reflected the same prisoner traits as the prisoners that were described in the dialogue. According to the Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” It described conditions of people chained at birth unable to function as independent individuals that were locked in a protracted dark cave. They were allowed to rotate their necks but could not stand up unless told to or leave the cave. Within this cave they could only watch a wall showing flash images and objects as if the prisoners were watching a play or movies at a theater. They believed that the pictures shown on the wall were factual in which they were just shadows of objects that were behind them. The objects reflected forms and puppet that were placed up by puppeteers to create shadows on the wall. The prisoners were unable to see the puppeteers and seemed as if they were watching a puppet show in the dark.

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

Prompt: Define Plato 's “Allegory of the Cave”. What is the central message? Is he describing education alone? Where does politics come in?

“The Truman Show” and Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” writings were astonishingly similar in theory. Even though these two writings were written almost 2500 years apart, there were many key concepts alike. In both writings there was an imprisonment of a man from childhood to adulthood. Both of these men had a series of events occur as they grew older, which allowed their eyes and mind to see and process the truth of the world and to forget their ignorance. “... I proceed to say, go in to compare our natural condition, so far as education and ignorance are concerned, to a state of things like the following.” This statement from Plato truly states the theory of mind in which is portrayed in both “The Truman Show” and Plato.

Plato, a famous Greek philosopher who wrote the 'Allegory of the Cave', attempted to answer some of these philosophical questions, most notably about the nature of reality. He tells the 'Allegory of the Cave' as a conversation between his mentor, Socrates, who inspired many of Plato's philosophical theories, and one of Socrates' students, Glaucon. They discuss the meaning of reality and how we as humans can be blinded by the dark shadows of reality. The shadows of the objects in the story represented society’s way of telling us what is real, and what is normal.

Is it possible to rip off the shackles that are bound to you? In Plato’s “The Allegory of The Cave” there are prisoners that are shackled to the ground, and one manages to get freed by a mysterious figure. Why did this figure free this one person and not the rest? Could this figure be something else other than human? Are the Prisoners actually tied down? So many questions could be rung from this story, guess we’ll have to find out.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” from his book, The Republic, highlights the ignorance our society faces by utilizing imagery and extended metaphors within a fictional conversation between his mentor, Socrates, and his brother, Glaucon. In my opinion, Plato’s main argument or point, in a sense, is that our people don’t question “why we are here” or “why this is happening” enough. We, as a society, merely accept the state of reality that we see and do not “turn our heads” around to see the bigger picture. Plato’s allegory reflects Socrate’s Theory of Forms, the things we see within the world are a pure reflection of the things the world represents. A metaphor of Socrate’s Theory of Forms is presented in Plato’s story when the prisoners, while

Throughout “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato significantly identifies the discrepancy between reality and illusion. This can be compared to the 21st Century’s issue of False Advertisement. More specifically, false advertisements involving Photoshop, image-editing software used by many American’s in our society today. Although Photoshop may be useful in enhancing digital photos and designs, the entirety of the program covers up all reality. This can relate back to Plato’s story describing prisoners in a cave. The inmates take in to consideration how detailed the objects appear on the wall in front of them, not knowing of the illusion happening right before their eyes. Photoshop is now traveling down the wrong path to an unreal perception of

Hinduism is a fascinating religion with many relatable concepts, regardless of belief in them or not. Another commonality that people of all beliefs can relate to is Plato’s Allegory of the cave. Because of this, the Hindu concepts of samsara, maya, karma, Samadhi, and moshka can be explained via Plato’s Allegory in order to better understand it. Once examined, it can be determined from there whether or not the allegory is a useful tool in explaining the concepts.

At various times in our lives, every person has asked themselves a varied version of the same questions: What is “reality”, moreover what determines our perception of reality, and what am I supposed to do with (or about) it? Throughout “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato attempts to answer these questions. Plato suggests that humans have a constrained view of the world, and that reality consist of two different perceptions, a "bodily eye” and a “mind’s eye.” The “mind’s eye”, the hypothetical site of visual recollection or imagination, involves a higher level of thinking. This eye emerges after the prisoners have been released from their chains and begin exploring the outside world. The “bodily eye,” a metaphor for the senses, relies on sensory images about the world in order to form conceptions of reality. This is the only eye present inside the cave where the prisoners’ confined.

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).