Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

In the ‘The Allegory of the Cave’, Plato uses a philosophical situation to help us as the reader to examine our perception of life by what is around us. Plato uses such an abstract situation to show that we can mistake the information that we gain due to our position in a situation for truth.

“The Allegory of the Cave “is a theory put forward by Plato concerning human perception. People who are unenlightened have limited self- knowledge as this is illustrated by the three prisoners who live in a darkened cave without ever questioning what may exist outside their dwellings. The prisoners are chained in a particular way such that they can only see the wall they are facing. Emerging from the wall are passerby shadows created by the effect of the fire and the people walking with various objects behind them. To the restrained prisoners, the shadows are what encompassed their reality therefore making their lives a complete illusion. As a result, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake

The "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the basic opinion that all we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of the ultimate Forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. In his story, Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. In "Allegory of the Cave" there there are two elements to the story; the fictional metaphor of the prisoners, and the philosophical opinion in that the allegory is supposed to represent, hence presenting us with the allegory itself.

After that, we have Plato and the Allegory of the Cave. In this text Plato distinguishes between people who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth and people who really do see the truth. The story begins in the cave where there are three prisoners, those three prisoners have never seen life outside the cave and have stayed in the cave since their birth day. Outside the cave people carry animals, plants, and etc. The only thing the people inside the cave see are the shadows, not the real object itself. Plato along with the prisoners guess the objects they will see next. Then, one of prisoners escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave. When he is out he is very surprised to what is outside the cave and then realizes that his former view of reality

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

In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth and people who really do see the truth. In this a group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, basically never seeing the light of day. They are prisoners. The people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them there is a fire. And behind that fire there is a partial wall. On top of the wall are different statues, which are held up by a group of people, hiding behind the wall out of sight. Since there is the fire, the statues cast shadows across the

There are many symbols in the allegory of the cave. One symbol is the fire that casts shadows onto the cave wall where the prisoners dwell. We know that the prisoners in the cave represent those living in an ignorant society. We also know that the liberated prisoners represents someone who has reached a true higher knowledge. This fire in the allegory represents the deceptions and false truths presented by society. The chains that hold the prisoners in the cave represent the many different ties to society such as technology and culture. The shadows themselves are the items of deception and false truths that society believes or says to be true. The real objects in the outside liberated world is the actual truth. The sun and sunlight represent the source of truth and reality. Plato is able to convey his message mostly through symbolism. Without the symbolism the allegory of the cave would simply be a story with no alternative meaning. Plato conveys his message to enlightened individuals through his use of

Part I The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's interpretation of individuals that are illiterate, or blindly following what the majority of others believe to be true. Every element in the cave represents the course to enlightenment beginning with the path that symbolizes the path to understanding. Plato regards it as conviction that those who inform themselves on matters of the mind and matters of the physical world can elevate themselves to freedom (Lawhead, 2009) .The shadows that are objects that appear to the prisoners are merely flickers of what the prisoners interpret them to be, this characterizing an individuals limited view of the world. First comes imagination and then what our limited thought or belief.

In Plato’s the Allegory of the Cave, wisdom is shown as getting out of the cave and seeing the truth. All this prisoner had ever seen before were shadows of the original that he thought were real. The shadows were in deed real but they were not the actual object themselves yet only half of the truth. His fellow prisoners did not believe him when he said that they were looking at shadows. By leaving the cave he had a better understanding of his surroundings and in the end that made him all the wiser. The prisoner had the ability to judge for himself what was true and gained wisdom in doing so.

As a result, the voices of the people talking create echoes within the walls of the cave. The prisoners now believe these are sounds that come from the shadows that are reflected on the wall. Plato indicates here that the prisoner’s perception of reality is solely based on what they can see. The prisoners are a representation of the people in society who have not opened their minds to question the world around them. They have settled to believe what they see or what they have been told to be true; which makes them a shadow of being. There is only superficial

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).

Because of this, the prisoners will come to see the unsubstantive shadows as reality since their views are only limited to what is shown to them. Plato then suggests that there is a person that frees one of these prisoners. A person tells the other that the shadows are artificial and only an inaccurate reflection of the truth. He then leads the prisoner towards the exit of the cave and shows him the sunlit world outside. From there, the prisoner perceives the actual reality without

In the “Allegory of the Cave” the Greek philosopher Plato was a student of Socrates, and was devastated by his mentor’s death. Plato's purpose is to help humanity understand philosophy, the process of enlightenment. He believed that humans are exposed to two worlds at once. He found this difficult to explain to people so he created the story “Allegory of the Cave”. In his allegory, he describes three prisoners that are chained together and want to escape but are afraid because the cave is all they knew. So, one of the prisoners manages to escape and explore the outside world. Then, the prisoner returns back to the cave to tell the other what he saw in the outside world and the prisoners do not believe him. They think it is

“The Allegory of the Cave” is a parable designed by Plato to illustrate the power of philosophy to free and enlighten men. This story unfolds Plato's notions about the structure of the world and “the essence of truth”. In this allegory, abstract thinking is portrayed as the key element which holds access to real truth. Building upon the teachings of his mentor, Socrates, The Allegory of the Cave represents Plato's own reflections on the limits of human knowledge (epistemology), as well as on the real nature of things (metaphysics). “Deep within the cave is where many people exist, bound by the strictures society has placed on their knowledge, virtue, and sense of the universe around them.

The prisoners don’t know what life is and it’s purpose. So putting into conclusion, the prisoners seem to believe that the only way to life is the cave and the images they see. These prisoners see shadows of people and objects projected by the light of the fire. The fire is lit behind the wall they are shackled to, so they don’t know exactly what they are seeing.