The Allegory Of The Cave

Prisoners, watching life unfold on the cave wall in front of them, accepting what they see as truth, as reality, are literally people. Every average person in this world is a prisoner, chained down. These chains that bind the prisoners to the floor are beliefs. Take clothes for instance, a person may not have very much money, so they should not spend enormous amounts on clothing, but the fear of not being accepted due to out of style clothes requires said person to spend too much money on their clothes. The fear spoken of is derivative of the person抯 beliefs, holding them to abide by the cultural norms, in this case purchasing over priced clothing. The prisoners are gazing at shadows on the wall, until he or she breaks free. To break free in this world, you must look at objects, individuals, cities and societies, even the universe as a whole, with reason. Do not simply rely on perceptions and senses to grasp concepts.

Because of this, his colleagues think he has become blind and dumb. However, persistent to help them see the truth, the prisoner tries to unchain his fellow men, but he is met with opposition.   The other prisoners fight him off in fear of the unknown.  

In struggling to find his solution as is made apparent by cursing the Zeus (“by Zeus, Socrates, I really don’t know” 83c), the slave boy is left perplexed and ‘puzzled’ in a genuine state of confusion (84b). These feelings bear an noteworthy resemblance to those which Meno earlier accuses Socrates of stimulating: namely those feelings almost identical to the numbing pain of a “stingray” (80b). In a sense, the slave boy is also faced with identical mental numbing,

They go into a discussion about what the gods love, what is attention, and the science behind piety and impiety. Socrates ends the conversation by still questioning the true meaning of piety and

Being skeptical in the 21st century is at an all time high because not only is having one’s own opinion accepted, its encouraged. Additionally, because of the open society we live in, it has allowed mankind to examine their life at a deeper level. Now, people can be skeptical of their religion without worrying about being persecuted. Often people question what is reality and whether seeing is indeed believing. Three passages that indulge in this skepticism are The Matrix, The Allegory, of The Cave, and Meditation I of the Things of Which We May Doubt. All three of these passage at the root propose the same idea that reality is not what is observed; furthermore, that there is a true reality that one can attain by being skeptical of their current reality and thinking outside the box.

The most important comparison in these three works is the theme of reason versus happiness, education versus ignorance and being oneself or what others expect someone to be. In the Apology, as translated on The Internet Classics Archive, Socrates seeks out the politicians, the poet and the artisans to determine if they are wise and

Socrates was a fierce believer in dialogue. He believed that if something was not a one-on-one, face-to-face communication, then it was impossible to attain knowledge. However, as Peters points out “Dialogue is a bad model for the variety of shrugs, grunts, and moans the people emit (among other signs and gestures) in face-to-face settings.” (Peters et al 34). Because Socrates was only interested in using dialogue as a means of finding the truth, his version of the truth is impossible to obtain.

According to Plato, these people are shackled and cannot move. They can’t look behind them or turn side-to-side; they can only see what is front of them. It seems as if the humans are in the dark and cannot see anything except for light from some fire and the images on the cave walls; the shadows on the walls of the cave are misleading them because they think they are real. They are unaware that everything is basically an illusion in their eyes... the whole thing is a metaphor.

In the beginning of Book I, Socrates questions

Next, a prisoner is released and allowed to witness and understand what is actually happening in the real world. The world he has come to understand

People always use certain type of words but they cannot really explain what a certain word means. With this experiment, Socrates is able to see how people are able to define the words they speak and see if they completely understand it’s meaning. This is very similar to experiment created by Edward Bradfod Titchener in which he tried to make various different types of people describe a flower. In this experiment, it has the same flaw which Socrates had but may have not realized. This experiment requires a method called introspection which requires smart and verbal people to talk about their opinions on a topic.

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Subject DD MM YYYY On the Allegory of the Cave by Plato The Allegory of the Cave by Plato invites us to a philosophical journey into the essence of truth and reality. With this analytical grid presented at the beginning of the Book VII of the Republic, Plato summarizes his major philosophical presumptions in a succinct fashion. He particularly aims to shine a light on the undesired consequences of basing our knowledge solely on opinions grounded on empirical evidence, in his wording; shadows.

The Allegory of the Cave can help us understand the role of education in a person's life because it shows us the importance of knowledge through the story of a man who used to be a prisoner in his cave until he got out and gained knowledge. This story starts by describing the lack of education a group of humans have, since the only knowledge they can obtain is the one from the shadows reflecting on the cave walls. The humans believe that the only real things that exist are the ones that they can see in front of them like the shadows. However, one man got out of his cave and walked towards the sun (light), which represents the moment when the man receiving knowledge. He was able to see the fire and the statues that were creating the shadows

Socrates shows everyone that they do not know what they want in life. I do not think that Socrates knows what he wants either, but he knows that. As he said in Apology the only thing that separates him from everyone else is that he knows he does not know anything. He is this crazy man who really does not have anything. He is not beautiful nor does he have a career. Either way men find themselves wanting his attention. Alcibiades says, “Socrates is the only man in the world who has made me feel shame” (216B). The attraction that Socrates provokes is much greater than that of any

The story in book begins picturing the event happening in an ancient city of Greece, where Socrates was present along with his companions. The purpose of his visit was an ancient Holy festival. Upon returning back from the festival, Socrates and his companions are invited by an old friend for dinner and a dialogue. Socrates had reputation for having dialogues. He attracted audience to witness, and that is why he was invited by the son of his old friend so they can have the joy, to watch Socrates have an argument.