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The Allegory Of The Cave

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In the allegory of the cave Plato tries to show us two scenarios where the prisoners experience emotional and intellectual revelations throughout their lives. Plato’s theory was that the ones who truly understand knowledge should guide the ignorant people out of their unenlightened states of being and into true knowledge. The cave symbolizes the people who think that knowledge come from what they see and hear in the world. It also indicates people that make assumptions about life based on the substantial things they experience through hearing and seeing. Plato’s main focus was to convey a story to the world about the difference between beliefs and truth. Anyone can believe in something they see, but that belief is really just a shadow of the truth.
Already from Plato’s illustration of the prisoners, one can tell that they have very little knowledge of their surroundings. Their lack of knowledge restricts them from knowing what’s going on in the real world. The prisoner’s assumption of reality is all the shadows that appear on the wall. As far as life goes, they believe the shadows are all there is and they don’t question it. Plato referred to it as “eikasia” signifying the lowest level of knowledge. The prisoners don’t know any better so they don’t strive to observe anything else other than the shadows and the noises. In today’s society the “eikasia” states of mind can be illustrated by narrow minded people, who are set in their own views in life and do not wish to expand

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