The Allegory Of The Cave, By M. Scott Peck Essay

In the article “Do Maps Create or Represent Reality?” written by Laura Herbert as a high school senior on March 2002 is about how maps can tell stories. No map is 100% accurate and is usually only accurate in shape, area, or distance. There are different types of maps and each has its own strong points. Maps are good at representing a place it self, but they don’t define that the place exists. Mapmakers when making maps can each put their own personalization, this is what usually causes them to be different. Even though maps are not completely right, they still influence the way we think about the world. Mapmaker cannot just make up random things they need to have some sort of reality

In the Allegory of the Cave there are chained prisoners in cave who can only stare at the cave wall in front of them. At the back there is a long entrance with a staircase the width of the cave and a fire burning in the distance. They see only shadows projected in front of them from a raised platform and hear an echo that they attribute to what they observe. They talk about and name the shadows of objects they see before them. To them the truth are the shadows. Then one day one of the prisoners is released. He is told that what he saw before was an illusion. Once he is outside it takes a while for his eyes to adjust to the sun. First he observed the shadows of thing then their reflection and finally the actual object. Remembering his previous state he goes back to the cave and tries to explain that everything is an illusion but they laugh at him and think he’s crazy. They believe it best not to ascend and they choose to remain as they are. The cave represented opinion. The shadows that are cast on to the wall represented physical objects. The prisoners represented the common people (Welles).

I had an experience that each represents the symbol towards the Allegory of the Cave. My childhood was mostly in Jamaica where I lived with my father for two to three years. I can relate to the symbols from the "Allegory of the Cave".

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.

People seem to think that everything that happens to them everyday is real. The question is, though, “What is real?”. Is everything you see everyday really real or is it fake? We might see fantasies that other people or machines have created for us. Maybe we are the ones that are not enlightened yet. Numerous essays and films have been produced on this subject. One essay is “The Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato in 360 B.C. Also, the movie The Matrix was filmed in 1999. Even though many differences can be drawn between “The Allegory of the Cave” and The Matrix, there are many similarities as well.

In the article “Choosing a Map for Life”, Scott Peck compares each person’s view and reality to a map—which is used to guide us through the journey. He says that “The more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world.” Peck also says that people tend to ignore the reality because it is painful and the others’ views are narrow and misleading. I think it’s true because by facing the reality, we will know who we are, what we can do in the future to make us reach our goal. The reality can be a mistake that we made and can be hurt but that’s how we learn and experience. In addition, Peck mentioned that in order to have a precise map throughout our life, “we have to continually revise them. The world itself is constantly changing.” I agree with this statement because as the world is changing, we have to change too. We cannot go through life with perspective that we had when we were a child, we have to grow up and look at the world differently. During my childhood, my parents always said that it wasn’t good to go out by myself, but as I

“Allegory of the Cave”, written by Plato, is story that contrasts the differences between what is real and what is perceived. He opens with Glaucon talking to Socrates. He has Glaucon imagine what it would be like to be chained down in a cave, not able to see anything other than what is in front of him. He tells a story of men that were trapped in a cave and were prisoners to the truth. These prisoners have only seen shadows. But because of their ignorance, these slaves to the cave believe that the shadows are real. The story goes on to say that one of the men has been dragged out of the cave. He is not happy to see the real world, yet upset because he is being taken

In his allegory of the cave, Plato describes a scenario in which chained-up prisoners in a cave understand the reality of their world by observing the shadows on a cave wall. Unable to turn around, what seems to be reality are but cast shadows of puppets meant to deceive the prisoners. In the allegory, a prisoner is released from his chains and allowed to leave the cave. On his way out, he sees the fire, he sees the puppets, and then he sees the sun. Blinded by the sunlight, he could only stare down to view the shadows cast onto the floor. He gradually looks up to see the reflections of objects and people in the water and then the objects and people themselves. Angered and aware of reality, the freed prisoner begins to understand illusion

The Allegory of the Cave or also known as, Myth of the Cave, is a good example of explaining the feature of the way people think. It is a concept that demonstrates how humans are fearful of change and what they don’t know. Plato says that men are living in an underground cave and it is a situation. The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. Plato talks about being free, everyday life, knowledge, and essentially what he wrote to be true. I think that he was very unique with his writings because there are so many ways to look at the world and his way was just one. He was educated highly and is recognized as a philosopher to this day.

This story, The parable of the cave, gives awesome inspiration to the investigation for education. By looking at Plato's Cave we can investigate the need of rationality and how it adds to an important education. An examination of Plato's depiction of the cavern, one of the prisoners gets out of the cave, and the he come back to the cave, gives us an outline of how our education works, to be liberated from the material world, the impact of any kind of custom, beliefs, and to find out oneself and the world in a more liberated and meaningful way.

How can you prove your world is real, rather than an intentionally constructed model? The short story “The Allegory of the Cave” in Plato’s book The Republic and the movie The Matrix by The Wachowskis, both revolve around the philosophical idea of truth and illustrate the processes of people leaving their false worlds to experience the reality. Although the protagonist from these two pieces of work have different experiences in their journeys, both stories convey an underlying idea ———— nothing is absolute real or virtual and it is individual’s perceptions that shape their own realties.

knowledge. It can also be a way of challenging ones way of thinking. It is the aspect of

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is the most comprehensive and far-reaching analogy in his book, The Republic. This blanket analogy covers many of the other images Plato uses as tools through out The Republic to show why justice is good. The Allegory of the Cave, however, is not the easiest image that Plato uses. First, one must understand this analogy and all of it’s hidden intricacies, then one will be able to apply it to the other images Plato uses such as the Divided Line, or Plato’s Forms.

Plato, a Greek philosopher, wrote the Allegory of the Cave to compare the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature. It questions reality, knowledge, and the meaning of life. He described life as like being chained up in a cave, forced to watch shadows flitting across a stone wall. The Allegory of the Cave is found in Book VII of The Republic, in which the Greek philosopher envisioned the ideal society by examining concepts like justice, truth, and beauty. In the allegory, a group of prisoners have been confined in a cavern since birth with their backs to the entrance, unable to turn their heads, and with no knowledge of the outside world. Occasionally, however, people and other things pass by the cave

Identity, directed by KJ Adames, is an inspirational short film about a world in which everyone wears masks to cover up their true identity.