Plato's Allegory Of A Cave

The allegory of The Cave revolves around prisoners who have been bound to chains their entire lives. They face a blank wall, and only a blank wall. They know nothing of what is outside of the cave. They tend to see shadows that pass by, but because the have no knowledge of reality they don’t fully comprehend what these shadows truly are. In time these prisoners find a way out of the chains and travel outside of the cave, and find out there is more to reality then what they thought. Plato used this as a

The prisoner’s process of apprehending knowledge in The Allegory of the Cave is depicted as an arduous yet spiritual process. When the prisoner begins to acclimate into the world outside of the cave, he has to learn and observe in steps. The prisoner first starts with seeing shadows because it is what he is used to when he inhabited the cave. Then, he can see the reflections of objects. After, he is able to move on to watching the actual objects. The released prisoner eventually can observe the night sky. Finally, he can look at the sun and truly understand the importance and meaning of it (Plato.153). The prisoner cannot merely stop at looking at objects because he has to comprehend the new world and look deeper into its meanings. He is unable to physically contact the sky which causes a feeling of uncertainty and wonder. The sun represents the truth and realities of the world, which is why he was so blinded by it when he first was forced out of the cave. The knowledge that the prisoner now possesses gives him the strength to rise above the standing of those who are stilling living in the shadows. In order to fully grasp the knowledge of the world, an individual must slowly understand smaller concepts before attempting to gain the full truth.

In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato talks of men chained inside of a cave, prisoners. He describes how they perceive the world, and the truth of what they see. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave correlates to today’s society because the prisoners in the cave represent the average people of modern times.

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.

The U.S. Geological Survey registered the Tohoku Earthquake as a megathrust earthquake.4 Being the largest and most powerful type of earthquake, a megathrust earthquake is one that occurs in a subduction zone, an area where one of the earth’s tectonic plates sinks under another (Fig. 2). Although it takes hundreds of years for a megathrust earthquake to start, they are particularly devastating because they deform the ocean floor, resulting in a tsunami.4,5

Soon enough this prisoner’s eyes begin to adjust to this strange new environment and begins to see the reflections in water and the trees and people that surround him. Sadly, after experiencing this new world, Socrates begins to explain what happens when this finally free man is sent back to the dark depths from which he’d been imprisoned. This prisoner is once again dragged down into the darkness of the cave, but as he’s forced back in his eyes have become accustomed to the brightness of the sun, he feels blind in the darkness of his old “home”. His blindness implies to the rest of his fellow prisoners that the world where he was sent to did more harm than good, and for him to tell them any different would cause them to shun him and decide they never want to leave the cave as it seems safer to stay there than to face the unknown. As mentioned, the story of “The Allegory of The Cave” begins with the description of a cave in which a group of prisoners are shackled to chairs that face only one of the walls.

According to Plato, reality consists of two realms: the physical world, which we experience with our five senses, and the world made up of forms and ideas. Plato explained that forms are the perfect templates that exist somewhere in another dimension, yet he does not specify where, and these templates are the ultimate reference point for all objects that we observe in the physical world. Plato implied that our lives, which we perceive as solid reality, are in fact just a shadow. Plato explained this further through his allegory of the cave.

Plato aforesaid, “How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?” (Plato, 514a-515a). Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” attempts to explain that true enlightenment is only achieved when one is freed from the shackles of the mind and is truly able to comprehend the world around them. In the allegory, the prisoners were chained facing the cave wall, only to see and believe what was put before them. When one of the detainees was freed from his fetters, he was able to broaden his knowledge and assimilate that things may not always be, as they seem.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” he writes about prisoners that have been locked up in this cave for their whole lives and only know the world through shadows and sounds. Until one day a prisoner is freed from his chains. Once this man is freed from his chains he proceeds to exit the cave and experiences an unknown world he has never seen with his eyes. He realizes that his old life and those guesses about what the shadows and sounds were useless as now he can see the truth beyond the entrance of the cave. Once he has experienced enough of the outside world and it’s beauties he wants to inform his friends of the truth. He tells them that the world they lived in their whole life is a lie and that the truth is beyond the cave and into the unknown.

The Republic by Plato goal was to distinguish whether or not justice is better than injustice. Plato wants to prove that justice can be found within common people by the teachings of structure and discipline. Plato creates this “allegory of the cave” where people will learn the good and see the dim light that leads to unknown territory. While these people are in the cave, the only thing they will look for in the cave is finding the good and wisdom in themselves. In this cave one is supposed to learn about the contemplation of life.

The significance of studying and discussing Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave helps the reader to understand that what Plato is saying in the chapter happens in the society today. Also, it helps us as readers to understand the purpose of this writing piece. The purpose of writing this piece is to show the roles the people can take in the real word. Those roles could be a prisoner, a puppet master, or a philosopher. Plato also wanted to show that what people see from their eyes is not always true. It can deceive them. Plato uses symbolism to prove this point.

The allegory of the cave is regarded as one of the most reputed and acclaimed works by the Greek philosopher Plato in modern literature as well as philosophy. First published and presented in his work known as a Republic (514a–520a), the dialogues that have been used as conversation can be regarded as fictitious as the main conversation takes place between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Socrates. First and foremost, allegorical writing is a type of writing that has two sets of meanings, one which can be assumed as literal and the other one is allegorical. Although this piece was written long before my time, the underlying message it intends to convey is still relevant today. Our society is trapped in a cave.

In the story The Allegory of the Cave, Plato describes the perception of reality. He explains how to interpret ideas or objects in different perspectives. The story he tells about the cave could have influenced different modern day ideas. Some ideal examples might include religion, abuse, and imprisonment. Plato’s cave theory applies to all of these ideas and can show many different perspectives.

Throughout the play, Macbeth develops from a relatively good character, to a greedy murderer. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as a brave warrior by King Duncan, who then bestows the title ‘Thane of Cawdor’ upon Macbeth. Macbeth’s character begins to change after he is encountered by three witches who reveal prophecies to him. After Macbeth discovers that he will be named king, he and Lady Macbeth develop a plan to kill King Duncan. However, Macbeth begins to have doubts of their plan, and says “we will proceed no further in this business.”(I.vii.31) This tells the reader that Macbeth still possesses some humanity, and believes that they should not follow through with the plan. After Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill king,

Studies have shown if your brain does not have the source of bilingual language, it is not as “powerful”. Bilingual children tend to have an academic advantage in classrooms. “Children with a second language as young as age three have demonstrated a head start on test of perspective-taking and theory of mind-both of which are fundamental social and emotional skills”(Lynch) . Not only does it improve on their language skills, but also helps with 2 of the 4 learning skills described in the theory PIES(Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social). By gaining these skills it helps improve their academics and knowledge in the world. Children with the bilingual language have also been proven to switch task more proficiently. A 2004 study by psychologists Ellen Bialystok and Michelle Martin-Rhee compared bilingual and monolingual preschoolers. The study was to see if they had the ability to sort by colors and shapes. Each child had two bins placed in front of them marked with a blue square and the other marked with a red circle. They were then given blue circles and red squares. The first task was to sort by color, placing blue circles in the bin marked with blue squares and red squares in the bin marked with a red circle. Both groups were able to complete this task. Next, they were asked to sort by shape. Which became a challenge because it meant placing the shapes in a bin with a conflicting color. In the end, the bilingual classroom was faster at completing this task. The