Essay On Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

“The Allegory of the cave” designed by Plato, one of the utmost eminent Western philosophers. Not only, he constructed an arch that in time will set a luminous path for the western theories to flourish in the future. Additionally, Plato viewed the world as a replica of the celestial world, which turned him to realize there is one divine being or one divine truth that humans should attempt to find. Therefore, this essay will discuss the implications of Plato’s Cave allegory in reflection on how humans might be blind to the truth, as a result of the unseen shackles that restrain them distant from the real truth, and how they might eventually feel and become more human without them.

Addiction. Addiction to alcohol and drugs is on the rise with a shocking number of 23.8 million of Americans. That is roughly about every ten Americans over the age of twelve who participate in activities involving alcohol and drugs. And only eleven percent receive treatment according to sources such as drugfree.org. Many alcoholics /drug users struggle to realize that doing alcohol and drugs has its toll, it is considered a disease. Yet, what is even worse is after treatment forty to sixty percent experience relapse. To avoid experiencing relapse it is suggested to patients to go outside to relieve stress and to resist that urge by doing activities such as hiking, swimming, and walking which has been proven effective. After treatment, the success rate is thirty percent if patients are willing to stay in the program. Which is not that high considering the other statistical numbers. This journey of addiction is a journey of denial, relapse, and recovery, however, not all recover. The fact that certain individuals learn to accept the truth of the consequences of such actions and that others do not should not be surprising. Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” presented back in B.C. times represent the modern-day issue of addiction.

The one prisoner finally escaping the cave to the outside light shows symbolism as a higher level of philosophy. Returning to the cave was the choice of the prisoner, he felt compelled to spread his new knowledge. Plato’s uses him to represent breaking free from the normal mindset shared. Plato’s argument stands since the cave represents lack of expanding on common knowledge. Even after the prisoner returns to express his findings to others, individuals with philosophies different than the norm is dismissed because of their level above previous things thought of as true.

In what might be the most famous and recognizable image of Plato’s Republic, the message of the allegory of the cave is present not only in Book VII, but throughout the entire dialogue. Plato-as-Socrates uses the allegory to express his views on philosophy’s role in his city of speech which is later shown more deeply with the five regimes in Book VIII. The cities in the five regimes undergo a degradation as philosophy moves further and further away from the ruler; which also mirrors the cave. Plato reveals his belief that the city and philosophy are inexorably linked through the soul of the tyrannical man in Book IX, saying that without philosophy the soul withers and learns to fear and hate the city because of the person’s willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve their desires. In the various books, the allegory of the cave can be compared and likened to the actions occurring within the pages of the text. From the very first line in the Republic, the Allegory of the Cave is shown symbolically throughout the dialogue from beginning to end.

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

Summarize Plato’s Allegory of the Cave article (be sure to include how it describes or relates to the human condition)

We identify the world we live in as the truth. In Plato’s short story “Allegory of the Cave”, written in 380 B.C., he shows readers what they believe is their reality, may not be true. A prisoner who had been chained in a cave for his whole life was released and taken to the real world. Once the truth of his reality was discovered, he returns to the cave to tell the other prisoners. However, the story shows how lies can mislead those who choose to believe them. The true meaning of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is that finding the truth can affect those who discover it.

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.

IS: From my observations, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a powerful indictment of the state of our country due to the way Social Media has become a major influence on the beliefs of people. While the Allegory uses shadows and physical bonds to describe those in darkness, today’s world has cultured education and politically correct social movements that keep people in the dark. Said another way, Social Media has restricted the freedom to learn and crippled the desire to seek justice.

The Republic In Plato’s work, The Republic, he addresses the controversial topic of perception versus reality (attitude toward truth and lies). Throughout the novel there is a reoccurring theme of society sheltering its people from the truth. In The Republic, Plato has a firm definition of truth and lies. In the society created in this work, the people’s perceived truth turns out to be false. Examples such as education, art, and the allegory of the cave are used to display this attitude that Plato possesses.

“See human beings as though they were in an underground cave-like dwelling” (193). Although Plato’s famous allegory of the cave doesn’t appear until Book VII of The Republic, its significance cannot be understated. The meaning behind the Greek philosopher’s imagery manifests itself throughout the rest of the work, specifically Book I. After outlining the description of the cave and demonstrating how the rest of The Republic dramatizes it, I argue that Plato (or Plato’s Socrates) is revealing a relationship that posits philosophy, which can only come about through mutual respect, as critical for the city’s well-being, but ultimately not enough just by itself.

Descriptive ethics, or morals, consist of different people, groups, and societies that have standards. It is the philosophical study of what morality is and how it requires us to behave. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, is his best effort to explain how we should live in society. Defining ‘what is morality?’ can be quite impossible with the many different theories and concepts on what it means to live morally. However, the overall concept of ethics relates to “right” versus “wrong” actions. Ethics is split up into three branches; descriptive, normative, and metaethics. It is the difference between what people actually do, what they should do, or have claims and justifications in a society. Morals is the study of abstract evaluative judgements of human behavior. Morality is the analysis of good versus bad consequences within a situation. Situations are created by our actions. Actions within humans are not socially conditioned rather they are constructed. Without the study of ethics and morality, societies cannot live for long. Aristotle states, “..humans beings are nature political animals, because nature, which does nothing in vain, has equipped them with speech, which enables them to communicate moral concepts such as justice…”. People enjoy having friends and family to make them happy within a society. Unlike animals, we have the ability to reason with each other. In order to do so, we tend to avoid unnecessary harm and premature death. To accomplish this, we want to live in

Since ancient times, people have looked up to the sun as an important part to their lives. For example, the Aztecs built, Teotihuacan, to be able to locate the exact point where the sun will reach its highest point. In the Egyptian civilization, Egyptians worshiped the sun as if it was a god. They named the god Horus, who they offered many sacrifices including human flesh to satisfy the god (Ahmed 2010). All of these civilizations were interactive with their environment, but imagine if one knew only of the reality they believed inside of a cave not experiencing events within the real world. In Plato’s, Allegory of the Cave, he describes the scenario of prisoners kept isolated in a cave left to come up with a reality that they comprehended with the images that they saw in front of them. This applies especially to politics, because people are left to decipher the context of the speeches many of the government leaders give, but seldom explain their motives. The policies proposed by presidential candidates obscure the reality of their motives within their campaigns by appealing to the majority 's’ opinion on specific issues that the government needs to address.

He describes the chained prisoners seated inside an isolated cave. The prisoners are made to only see shadows casted by a fire inside the cave. The chains of the prisoners illustrate the boundaries and the prisoners’ lack of understanding of reality, as they are kept restrained by an outside force. The shadows shown to the prisoners are an imperfect representation of what they presume reality to be. Their reality is the casted shadows as it is all they can see being bound by chains. Hence, Plato concludes that we should not trust our senses like the prisoners, as what they see is not

Plato a famous Greek philosopher in his book “The Republic” has his teacher Socrates recount the allegory of the cave.