Reality And Reality In The Allegory Of The Plato Cave

What do we do as humans, do we relate and connect to one another or do we believe in ourselves. In Allegory of the cave it emphasizes that we are ignorant and we live in an individual reality. We believe in our own ideas and what we have experienced, we do not believe in others who oppose our statements and beliefs, therefore we live in an individual reality.

An allegory is a kind of story in which writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface story. One of the most important allegories ever to be gifted to humankind is Allegory of the Cave. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is one of the most potent and pregnant of allegories that describe human condition in both its fallen and risen states. The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. It is also known as the Analogy of the Cave, Plato's Cave, or the Parable of the Cave. It is written as a fictional dialogue between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon at the beginning of Book VII of The Republic.

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.

Additionally escaping from the cave of ignorance and error is the central message of the allegory. Yet the metaphorical aspects of the parable are less comprehensible and like all narratives are subject to interpretation. Yet despite this upon examining the symbolism from the perspective of Platonic philosophy it is can be speculated that the cave is the day to day world of perceptual experience. While the other features of the allegory such as the journey out of the cave and seeing the sun being respectively representing insight and enlightenment into the true nature of reality.

Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave,” a depiction of the effects of education and enlightenment in the face of conflicting worldly understandings, arguably represents a continuous theme of world history—the hostility faced by new forms of thinking. In Plato’s “Allegory,” Plato demonstrates the hostility and resentment that individuals sometimes deal with when attempting to share new forms of knowledge through the experiences of the prisoners in the cave. However, this hostility is akin to another major revelation made by Charles Darwin through his trip to the Galapagos Island. The development of Darwin’s theory of evolution, a groundbreaking hypothesis that when accepted would change humanity’s understanding of existence, was met with ignorance

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.

Plato’s “Allegory of The Cave” is a written dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, brother of Plato, in which Socrates exposes the lack of education in human nature by invoking the image of prisoners chained up and sitting in a dark cave. The prisoners, whom have been imprisoned in the cave since childhood, can only see straight ahead and are forced to watch dancing shadows on the cave wall which are created by a fire that sits below and behind them, never to see the sun or the outside world which in this allegory, represents the idea of good and being. Socrates goes on to say that the prisoners represent the vast majority of the human race and the puppeteers who control the shadows represent poets, lawgivers, etc. which guide the prisoners and can shape their thoughts and beliefs because the puppeteers control the shadows, which in turn, control the prisoners. Although in the Plato’s allegory, it is said that the “Sun” is the form of good and to see what the light shines upon and what it reveals is to be enlightened, I claim that experiencing the form of good itself is not what represents enlightenment

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.

The allegory describes the ascent of the prisoner who symbolizes the philosopher Socrates, the cave is the physical world, the prisoners are the individuals who inhabit the world, and the shadows are what we believe to be true. The series of events described is the ascension of the mind. In the cave, the prisoner escapes and sees a faint light leading to the outside of the cave. Once the prisoner leaves the cave the light at first is blinding, for the sake of the allegory, the prisoner looks at his reflection at the water and then the actual objects that were seen in the cave as shadows. The prisoner then sees the Sun and then returns to the cave. The prisoner’s eyes adjust but as he descends down into the cave he stumbles, the enlightened prisoner then tries to convey the truth to his fellow brothers in chains but they cast him out as a fool. The metaphysics of the allegory are illustrated in four ideas divided by a line. These ideas are the image and the object. These are below the line, above the line is the concept and the form.

The Allegory of the cave is a story written by Plato an ancient philosopher who presented this work in The Republic to describe the truth about reality. Plato believed that reality and the truth are both hard to find. One must find knowledge of himself, discovering truth that is a process and to make known self understanding. Plato wrote this story as a discussion between two greek philosophers, Socrates and Glaucon. Socrates asks Glaucon what would it be like if people lived in the dark where all they could only see shadows from the fire behind them.

In the "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato, it represents a metaphor which is to contrast the way in which we as a society, perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the opinion that all we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of our everyday life, which 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. There are two important components to the story; the fictional metaphor of the prisoners, and the opinion in that the allegory is supposed to represent life in society. In section 514a-520a of the Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy, the story takes place as a conversation between Socrates and Plato’s brother, Glaucon.

In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato explains Socrates’ ideas that people live in a world of ignorance and are unwilling to accept a new outlook. He describes these perspectives through the use of a metaphorical cave that represents society. Prisoners are chained facing a wall in this cave and are only able to see their reality from a fire which reflects shadows passing by. When one prisoner escapes into the actual reality, he is surprised to discover the false perception he has been living in. He endures this painful truth until he can see a clear reality, which eventually allows him to be grateful for the sun and the world around him. He is amazed at what he has been missing out on and rushes

It is the truth of all matters. However, most people find it difficult to face reality, and to accept the truth. The truth is much harsher than the appearance of things. This is evident in Plato’s “The Republic: Book VII,” where the story of “The Allegory of the Cave,” is presented (Plato and Slings). In this short segment, Plato discusses a small civilization of people living in caves.

During his time as a student under Socrates, Plat began to think of an idea that could explain reality, his solution was the allegory of the cave. The allegory of the cave symbolises Plato’s theory of his belief in the Realm of Appearances and the Realm of the Forms in order to explain his view of reality. I believe that Plato was somewhat successful in explaining reality, as he was able to provide an explanation for ‘a priori’ knowledge however I don’t believe he was entirely successful due to the fact that he was unable to identify a clear connection between the Realm of the Forms and the Realm of Appearance, and how humans are supposed to travel between each realm. The allegory of the cave, is the story about three prisoners who had been

Shackled in a cave, believing that shadows are your realities is no way for a human to live. Although, perhaps not fully aware of it, the moment the light hits the his eyes, outside of the cave, he is afraid of the new freedom he is heading for. Finally accepting the collapse of the world he once knew, he realizes that for a majority of his life he has been neglected of the conditions that make people human. Like Freire, Plato is addressing the issues of oppression and transformation, and how it affects humanity as well as fears associated with freedom once the oppressed is liberated. In Plato’s allegory the transformation does not just happen.