Platos Cave Examples

When people are trapped in a place with no outside influence, its hard to have different forms of ideas and opinions because they are all used in the same way of thinking. Glaucon relates the people he sees in the cave to prisoners. (2006). The idea that these humans sitting down are imprisoned relates to when people are imprisoned, they aren't able to see the world as someone who is free. In Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave" Socrates brings up the concept where if someone trapped in the cave was to look into the light will it be too painful and make them want to look away.

In Plato’s, Allegory of the cave, a key theory I found was the importance of education. Plato uses an “allegory to illustrate the dilemma facing the psyche in the ascent to knowledge of the imperishable and unchanging forms” (104) Based on my research of the republic, the allegory can reveal multiple hidden messages. Plato describes, ordinary mortals are chained within an underground chamber, which according to Fiero, represents the psyche imprisoned within the human body. These mortals can’t look sideways only straight ahead. They also can’t leave the cave and are facing a cave wall that they can see shadows from a fire of what they imagine are men. These mortals have been in this cave since childhood, which makes them believe the shadows themselves are the men, not a reflection of an actual man. Again, according to Fiero, the light, represents true knowledge, and the shadows on the walls of the cave represent the imperfect and perishable imitations of the forms that occupy the world of the senses.

After the prisoner has gained new found knowledge, he feels pity for those who are still imprisoned and unaware of the world around them. He knows now that their skills and perceptions are useless in the real world. Plato says “…when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?” (p. 3). It is unfortunate that most people are unable to leave the cave. However, those who do have the privilege of learning the truth have an obligation to go back and share with those who remain in darkness - to share with them as much truth as they are capable of understanding. “…before his eyes had become steady would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he

The metaphor behind Plato's "allegory of the cave" is simple: comfort causes ignorance. In the story, the prisoners have been held captive in the cave their entire lives. In only being able to view the shadows made by the puppeteers, the prisons have accepted this as reality. They have found comfort in this "reality" and refuse to accept the outside world causing ignorance. The allegory and the metaphor behind it can be found in all aspects of our lives. When we leave high school and head off to college or begin our lives, we must move away from relying on others or be left behind in the state of kidulthood. History also speaks on this metaphor in the case of Galileo. Galileo found evidence that contrary to popular belief the earth is not

Imprisonment, while less influenced than the others is influenced nonetheless. It is shown when the prisoner who is freed. The prisoner is representing someone incarcerated being released after serving a sentence. They are shown a better way of living when released. They want to share his experience and wants to help show other prisoners a better way than going back to old habits. But the prisoners in the cave are so used to what they were taught to do and not do differently, it is all they know, different scares them. In the story Plato says that “don’t you think he would consider himself lucky because of the transformation that had happened and, by contrast, feel sorry for them.”. He’s saying that anyone else would just leave and not share their experience, but this prisoner did.

We first learn about Plato’s cave in book seven of the Republic. In his book, Plato describes a conversation he has with Socrates. He tells Socrates the story of some men who had lived their entire lives in a cave. These men knew nothing beyond what they could see on the cave wall. One day, a man is freed. At first he rejected his new found knowledge of the world but, once he accepted what he learned outside of the cave, he could never go back to his sheltered existence. The cave is an allegory, a story that has a hidden meaning. Plato is attempting to describe the difference between conventional opinion and getting educated. Plato says “compare the effect of education and of the lack of it” (Plato 175).

The whole point of the allegory is to represent to journey to enlightenment. The prisoners represent either the unenlightened that have not had enough experience to gain great wisdom or the uneducated that have not learned enough to gain great intelligence. And being thrown out of the cave into the outside world represents the process of becoming enlightened. Once enlightened they would of course not want to leave and to make them go back into the Cave would be cruel, as is noted by Glaucon. But as is explained they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having or not” (873). Plato claims that these enlightened have a moral responsibility to bring their wisdom to the common people in order to help them learn more so everyone can benefit from the knowledge of an individual. This is certainly an agreeable prospect and one that is not seen enough in the real world. Once

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.

The second stage of the Allegory of the Cave consists of the process leading up to enlightenment. Plato represents the difficulties of leaving a comfortable reality where you are content with your own ideas by comparing it to the harshness of a flickering flame. The bright light of the fire that you are newly being exposed to after being held in the dark for so long can be painful, and hard to cope with or understand. The journey from ignorance to a better understanding can be confusing. As humans, we naturally don’t want to be forced to question our own ideas and the things we know to be true, but it is this uncomfortable, driving force that can lead us out of our own contentment and onto the path of better understanding. Plato so eloquently describes this challenging journey by comparing it to that of a prisoner being forced to visually take in all of this new information that he had not previously been exposed to. It takes a great deal of strength to be able to challenge the world around you and develop your own ideas, rather than taking everything around you in on a surface value.

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 a Cave” draws many parallels to events and characters in Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Farenheit 451. Chiefly, Plato would disapprove of the style of government in which citizens do not possess the right to think for themselves. Plato’s Cave Theory emphasizes the ability to think and experience new events in order to gain knowledge and learn, which allows the “prisoners” to escape from their binding chains of ignorance and enter a world of enlightenment. A blatant similarity between the two works lies in the characters of Clarisse, Faber, and Granger. These characters have escaped the “cave” of ignorance and have the ability to perceive true reality rather than the technology-induced one forced upon the society. Two

In the story, “Allegory of the cave,” by Plato, it explains how there were human beings living in a cave chained up facing the wall since they were children. As they grew older all they were able to see were the shadows of people crossing animals, tools, statues etc. on a bridge behind them. Since they could not turn their heads to look, their mind couldn't wrap around what they were really looking at. As if they weren't looking into reality. They had no knowledge of the outside world what so ever. This passage focuses more on justice, truth, and beauty. When a prisoner is released into the real world, the concept of reality is disorienting. The way we can reflect off this in the new world and society today, is the fact that most people are

The metaphor behind Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" is simple isolation causes ignorance. In the story, the prisoners have been held captive their entire lives. Through only being ab;e to view the flickering images made on the wall by puppeteers they believe these are in fact reality and are not willing to accept anything else causing ignorance towards the outside world. The allegory can be found all throughout history and present day. An example of this in the past is when humans believed the earth was flat and if they were to travel towards the edge they would fall off. Once Galileo claimed the earth was round the catholic church excommunicated him because they refused to acknowledge anything but the bible and have their comfort shifted.

Plato in his famous Allegory of Cave compared the ordinary human existence to that of chained prisoners in a cave. According to Plato, we are all stuck in a false reality in this world like prisoners in a cave. His cave theory still applies today in the sense that the people are influenced and controlled by the world around them. They do not want to realize or seek the truth; instead they wish to live in the comfort zone inside the cave.

Plato’s philosophy is that most people are happy in a world of shadows, whereas, Sagan claims that people are “highly motivated to find truth.” Although both Sagan and Plato make excellent points for their case, Plato’s view of humans’ quests for the truth makes a better case. “The Cave” can easily be compared to daily dealings with people might view as ignorant. When it comes to religion, politics, and science, there is always a debate with opposing views. Each person involved believes they are superior to the opposition. Plato discusses this towards the end, when the freed man reenters the cave with eyes that are blinded because they had gotten used to the sun. The freed man represents someone who has realized something other than what they were told. When the freed man tells the prisoners about what he saw out of the cave, he is ridiculed. Their argument for refusing to get released to enter to outside world is “Would they not let him know that he had gone up but only in order to come back down into the cave with his eyes ruined -- and thus it certainly does not pay to go up.” (Plato 517 a7) The prisoners are fine with staying in the cave because that’s all they know and they are happy with it. In life, this can be seen as people who refuse to think other than what they are taught, as they prefer to stay in a bubble or “cave.”