Socrates Allegory

As we know, Socrates chose to never write or have his ideas published. We learned of his outlook and ideas through the writing and dialogues of a student whom admired everything about him, Plato. In the “Allegory of the Cave,” we read a dialogue that occurs between Socrates and another student, Glaucon. Socrates describes chained human beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light. Due to being chained, these people cannot see the light of day, nor can they see anything that is not directly in front of them. There is a fire burning behind them, which casts a shadow on the wall they are facing. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (Plato, 3). Because the shadows are all they see, they are all that is real to them. If one of these prisoners were to be freed to the world above, their neck would be stiff, the light would shock their eyes and they would no longer be able to see the realities they once saw in the shadows. Once the person adjusts to the light, they will be able to understand that the sun is the cause of everything

“…human beings living in a underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.” (Plato) This entire passage is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon. Glaucon was the older brother of Plato, and Socrates was the teacher of Plato and Glaucon at his academy. This is a conversation that is fictional but the fact that it is a conversation between a teacher and his student shows that the teacher is trying to tell his student an analogous tale to teach him a lesson and that is the purpose behind the way the paragraph is written, but the exact lesson being taught by Socrates isn’t revealed until later in the passage. This is also the reason the diction in these paragraphs is so formal, because the teacher is giving a formal lesson and at the same time trying to speak in terms his student will understand, and to engage thought in the mind of his student because he is

The Republic is considered to be one of Plato’s most storied legacies. Plato recorded many different philosophical ideals in his writings. Addressing a wide variety of topics from justice in book one, to knowledge, enlightenment, and the senses as he does in book seven. In his seventh book, when discussing the concept of knowledge, he is virtually addressing the cliché “seeing is believing”, while attempting to validate the roots of our knowledge. By his use of philosophical themes, Plato is able to further his points on enlightenment, knowledge, and education. In this allegory, the depictions of humans as they are chained, their only knowledge of the world is what is seen inside the cave. Plato considers what would happen to people

Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and how they would naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they have always seen as a pleasant and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief." The comfort of the perceivement, and the fear of the unrecognized outside world would result in the prisoner being forced to climb the steep ascent of the cave and step outside into the bright sun.

Socrates points out that this allegory corresponds to the earlier discussion about the good. Hence, it relates to the analogy of the sun and the analogy of the divided line. Socrates describes analogy of the sun as "a child of the good and most similar to it". He begins with saying that there are things which we can see and feel (visible realm) and there is the good itself, something we can only think about (intelligible realm). He continues, saying that eyesight requires light in order for object to be seen. Light comes from the sun, hence, sun gives a possibility for objects to be seen. Socrates compares the relationship between sight and the sun to the intellect and the good. Good gives power to things that are known. So, just as sun enables

Though the escapee has seen the outside world and gained experience the others do not have; when the prisoner returns to the cave, the others do not believe him. The escaped prisoner is said to be a metaphoric character for a wise man or philosopher, and the prisoners are supposedly metaphoric for people in society who only see what they want too. Plato creates a metaphor that a man has wisdom and knowledge of reality, but others do not want to believe in reality, but in their own idea of what is

As he talks about the prisoners, he claims that - were they not released and able to go into the outside light - they “would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects” (Plato). He describes their original life in the cave as being primitive and conjecture in nature. Once released from their chains, though, the prisoner must make his way past the fire and into the outside world because for Plato, “the entire ascent out of the cave, is a story of progress toward understanding values”

This perspective of Socrates represented by Plato demonstrates the difference between a man accused of wrong doings and a man who is being condemned. When Socrates is informed of the final decision by the jury he again keeps his composure and states in his defense speech by emphasizing that he is alright with the way he presented himself instead of begging and pleading. Finally, Socrates tells the jury “that there is hope in death and that he will enter into it with no fear”(Yount). His final request is for the jurymen to make sure that his sons grow up in the right way and praises some of the jurors who voted for his innocence.

In Plato's The Republic book VII he tells a story about prisoners in cave that were held captive. “Imagine that along this path a low wall has been built, like the screen in front of puppeteers above which they show their puppets.” (Plato PP) In today's society, it is not a cave rather a state of mind and the puppeteers are rather everything that we are exposed to. Every culture is stuck in a bubble, made to believe their values and traditions are above anyone's who are different. Socrates is explaining to the student how we only accept what we know to be true. The way society functions can be explained by us imagining a group of people whose existence has been inside of a cave. He explains that these prisoners are chained in a way that they are unable to turn to see in any other direction. There is a fire behind them that provides light which casts shadows that the captives believe to be entities. The prisoners way of making sense of it all is to give names and meaning to these shadows. One of the prisoners gets unlocked by her chains and

Ericsson states “there are many, many ways to tell a lie,” (Ericsson 121) and Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” and Hughes’s “Salvation” provide examples of multiple lies described in her essay. The main connection between Ericsson and Plato centers around groupthink lying described as “a psychological phenomenon within decision-making groups in which loyalty to the group has become more important than any other value, with the result that dissent and the appraisal of alternatives are suppressed;” (Ericsson 125) this concept appears in the state of the prisoners during and after exposure to the light. Because the prisoners are kept together in their own reality for an extended period of time, the one released into the light sees his previous reality as more real. Upon

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.

As Socrates is describing the cave and the situation, he stresses the point that the prisoners are completely oblivious as to what is reality as they would know nothing but the shadows casted by items held by the puppeteers, and believe this to be their own reality. This is important to the story as it shows that what we believe is real from the moment we are born is completely wrong based on our own flawed interpretations of reality. The point so far is that it is not what we can see but what we can’t see is what grasps our minds and Plato describes this thinking as “imagination.”

These two pieces written by Plato also have two characters, Socrates and the prisoners, who are similar. After returning to the cave, the prisoner would be reentering a world of darkness, having to talk to all the unreleased prisoners. He would live with the other prisoners, being able to see better than all of the rest. Because of his different perspective of reality and new knowledge, he would assume the position of the leader of the group and take care of the prisoners. Socrates does this exact thing in The Symposium. He seems to be the most enlightened one in the group and appears to be the puppet by which Plato speaks about his own views. Alcibiades speaks about how he looked up to and loved Socrates during his speech starting at 212c. Socrates acts as the mentor and leader in The Symposium, just as a prisoner would be if he were to leave the cave and become enlightened.

The final phase Socrates says the prisoner will go through will be his studying of the heavens by this point he believes the prisoner will be able to himself come up with conclusions regard the sun as “the source of the seasons and the years” (516c) and simply the cause for all he now sees and all he once saw. According to Socrates the prisoner will eventually recall the lifestyle and the people he left behind and began to feel a sense of pity for them but will cherish experience he has received on the surface. He says that if the prisoner were to ever return to the cave he would face the pain of having to readjust to the light in the cave and the ridicule of the prisoner who will see him as someone who has lost sight of the truth instead of the newly enlightened soul he is.

A person considering living the examined life might face several obstacles, such as disagreement, opposition from other people. If a person questions common beliefs of his or her neighborhood, people surrounding him or her might feel betrayed and turn away or they may even become a threat to the person who is making new discoveries and wants to share them with society. Plato shows that in the “Allegory of The Cave” when the prisoner comes back to the cave to let others know what he has found in the outside world. In the text Plato writes “would he not provoke laughter, and would it not be said of him that he had returned from his journey aloft with his eyes ruined and that it was not work while even to attempt the ascent? And if it were possible to lay hands on and kill the man who tried to release them and lead them up, would they not kill him? They certainly would, he said” (Allegory 517 a), the other prisoners found the man questioning their ideas as wrong and considered him as a risk to their environment. They [the prisoners] would kill him if he tried to free them and take them out of the comfort of familiar surroundings. The chained prisoners represent people around us who are not willing to change nor have an open mind towards new information, they are very skeptical and