Plato's Cave Philosophy

I have use images to explain the cave, as well as the relationship of the realm of true forms. This writing is construct a bridge between the worlds of darkness and of enlightenment. I have entered back into the cave.

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 “Myth of the Cave” is how we are blinded to everything around us and need to truly open our eyes to see what our world is like.

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

While speaking to Glaucon, Plato explains that if prisoners were to see the light within the cave, their eyes would burn as they had spent years in the dark. However, when exposed to the light, their past in the shadows is forgotten and they are born anew. Living in the

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.

These shadows in the cave are mere images, the lowest of the epistemological form of knowledge in the divided line. The objects which produce these shadows are the sense particulars. The sense particulars can then be counted e.g. three tree “puppets” this ability to count corresponds to the mathematical objects level of the divided line. Then once the person leaves the cave, he is able to see the actual forms, not just shadows or puppets, he is able to see the real object, and this conforms to the forms. Lastly, the sun is the thing that makes all life possible which is analogous to the ultimate Good which make all of the forms of knowledge even possible.

1. How does The Allegory of the Cave illustrate Plato’s view of the physical world? Plato views the physical world as a dark place just like the cave in the allegory. In this dark place humans can only perceive objects through their senses which are inaccurate most of the time.

In Allegory of the Cave video file we were given (Williams, 2008), we hear about people who have spent their entire lives chained in a cave only seeing shadows

Plato, a student of Socrates, in his book “The Republic” wrote an allegory known as “Plato's Cave”. In Plato's allegory humans are trapped within a dark cave where they can only catch glimpses of

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.

Socrates’s anecdote of the cave presents a ghastly image: people who “are in it from childhood with their legs and necks in bonds so that they are fixed, seeing only in front of them, unable because of the bond to turn their heads all the way around” (193). Also inside the cave is a “fire burning” which allows certain objects (out of sight and controlled by others) to project shadows (193). Consequently, the prisoners believe that the shadows are the most real things. When a prisoner is released, he experiences pain due to the light of the fire. In time, he recognizes the truth and becomes accustomed to it. He is then “dragged out into the light of the sun” (194). After a few moments, he tolerates its rays. Most importantly though, he grasps “the sun itself” (195). Finally, the escapee is not content with keeping this

In the 21st century, media is similar to the cave. The images that were shown to us through media are similar to those shadows on the wall shown to the prisoners. Once we reach the outside, we will truly know what the truth is because that is reality. Although “The Allegory of the Cave” was written in ancient times, it can still be related to

Socrates describes people in a cave since birth, bound so they can only see what is in front of them. There are shadows and sounds that can be observed but the source is unknown. Socrates says in 515c, “…such men would hold that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of artificial things.” Their reality is limited by their experience. Then a prisoner is freed from the bonds and is forced to look at the fire and the statues that were used to cast the shadows on the walls. He is overwhelmed by the revelations and learns that the shadows were not the reality.

Plato's main goal in the Allegory of the Cave is to communicate the relevance and importance of the concept of intellectual perspective. His real agenda is to illustrate that most people are likely perceiving the world around them in a much more limited manner than they realize and that most of us are, to some degree, living our lives in the same circumstances as the prisoners he