The Allegory Of The Cave Essay

In “The Allegory of the Cave” Plato writes how Socrates described two kinds of people, those that are enlightened and knowledgable and those that are ignorant and remain in the dark. Socrates uses reason to show the difference between those that have been enlightened and those that are ignorant as he describes prisoners that have been bound in chains since they were children and have never seen the sun. The prisoners see shadows of passing figures displayed on the cave walls. As these shadows are all they have experienced throughout their lives, they perceive the shadows to be real. The prisoners are unenlightened, and accept what they know and are familiar with as 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).

In Book VII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates continues to venture towards a more complete portrayal of the good. To do this, Socrates presents his most intricate, yet his most important figure: the Allegory of the Cave. Socrates calls on the interlocutors to imagine a dimly lit cave in which a group of prisoners are chained behind a wall in such a way that they cannot move and are forced to stare at a wall all day. Thanks to a small fire, the prisoners are able to see the shadows of their imprisoners and images their imprisoners projected on the wall. Having always been in the cave, the prisoners believe the shadows are true; similarly, the echoed voices they hear, they also believe to be true. One day, an individual prisoner is released, the secrets of the cave are unveiled, and he is lead up into the sunlight, which blinds their unfamiliar eyes. After this enlightened prisoner has looked upon, pondered, and adjusted to the true light of the sun, he feels that he must return to the cave. However, once he has returned, the enlightened prisoner finds his new eyes are ill suited for the cave and is viciously ridiculed by the other prisoners.

The one prisoner finally escaping the cave to the outside light shows symbolism as a higher level of philosophy. Returning to the cave was the choice of the prisoner, he felt compelled to spread his new knowledge. Plato’s uses him to represent breaking free from the normal mindset shared. Plato’s argument stands since the cave represents lack of expanding on common knowledge. Even after the prisoner returns to express his findings to others, individuals with philosophies different than the norm is dismissed because of their level above previous things thought of as true.

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

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

After the prisoner has gained new found knowledge, he feels pity for those who are still imprisoned and unaware of the world around them. He knows now that their skills and perceptions are useless in the real world. Plato says “…when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?” (p. 3). It is unfortunate that most people are unable to leave the cave. However, those who do have the privilege of learning the truth have an obligation to go back and share with those who remain in darkness - to share with them as much truth as they are capable of understanding. “…before his eyes had become steady would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he

Much like Neo from The Matrix, this man chose to briefly continue believing the lie, since it was more familiar. Eventually this man begins to accept this new reality by placing the knowledge of what he now knows to be true about the shadows and reflections and builds upon these facts until he reaches the principle that the sun, the very thing he previously discounted as artificial, was in fact genuine and in a sense responsible for most of his deception inside of the cave. Finally, Socrates claims this man would feel joy now that he is completely liberated from deception and has sympathy or the other’s that are still living in a false reality. This is where The Matrix and Plato’s allegory are somewhat dissimilar. While Socrates characterizes the liberated man in high spirits, Neo does not demonstrate this same pleasure after learning the truth.

In the story, “Allegory of the cave,” by Plato, it explains how there were human beings living in a cave chained up facing the wall since they were children. As they grew older all they were able to see were the shadows of people crossing animals, tools, statues etc. on a bridge behind them. Since they could not turn their heads to look, their mind couldn't wrap around what they were really looking at. As if they weren't looking into reality. They had no knowledge of the outside world what so ever. This passage focuses more on justice, truth, and beauty. When a prisoner is released into the real world, the concept of reality is disorienting. The way we can reflect off this in the new world and society today, is the fact that most people are

It’s all in the game. Though these words belong to the nefarious Omar Little of HBO’s critically acclaimed “The Wire” and not Plato, they nonetheless remain relevant. If anything, “the game” is akin to Plato’s allegory of the cave and the shadows that it casts. That being said, I will make the argument that anyone who doesn’t play by the rules of the game or tries to alter it, much like the prisoner who sees the light and goes back to aid his fellow prisoners, will be rejected. The only means of retaining a livelihood in the context of the Wire and its characters is to remain in the cave and entertain the idea of the shadows being reality for just as the prisoners in the cave are disillusioned by the shadows they perceive to be reality,

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.

The prisoner in Plato’s allegory, had made the reality of the cave, his life. In doing so, he wanted to leave the real world, to go back to his “normal” reality. In The Matrix, Neo learns that facing reality, is sometimes hard and confusing. Neo even ponders about going back, but once he sees that the life he lived was a lie, he realizes he has been deceived and there is no way he would go back. However, Cypher, a man that Morpheus had previously transformed, wanted to go back to what he knew.

He goes on to suggest that the prisoner would not be able to perceive the nature of this new reality until he studies his surroundings: the moon and the sun, the earth and its seasons. This prisoner has not only become freed, but educated as well. Plato’s other main point is that only once we receive true education of the nature of things around us, we will become free. Lastly, Socrates hypothesizes that if the prisoner were to return back to the cave, he would not be able to function in its society because he now knows that guessing the next shadow isn’t really understanding

For them to see what true reality is, he is instead put to death by the people he is trying to help. Because fort them he is the insane one. As Socrates says, “Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even think of ascending; and if anyone tried to loose another…let them only to catch the offender (Plato 3). They cannot comprehend what he is saying because they are accustomed to the cave, that the outside world is much bizarre for them that the shadows in the cave. As Neo will try to release everybody from the Matrix and do the same as the philosopher king did, as Neo says, “I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules or controls, borders or boundaries” (Matrix). It is uncertain how the people will react when Neo release them from the matrix. They may act like the prisoners who try to kill the philosopher king when they were confronted with truth. Platonic idealism has the notion of humans have a perfect idea of everything in the world. From the color, texture and taste of an apple, to an idea of utopian society however, in the real world the opposite happens. As the apple rot, the color changes, the perfect red color turn brown, the smooth texture of the skin become deteriorated and the sweet taste of a red, smooth apple becomes sour. There is no such thing as perfect, even perfection itself is just an imagination concocted by the brain. The rejection of the prisoners to the philosopher king and the act of Cipher to betray Morpheus, so that he can go back to matrix and live a perfect life is a representation of Platonic idealism. The prisoners don’t want to go out of the cave. They feel, safe, comfortable and at ease. The belligerent attitude they show toward the philosopher king is to show what will happen to anybody that will

It is not enough to sit outside the cave and enjoy the light; he must go down to the masses, to the shadows, to the imprisoned, even if he does not want to. In describing the allegory of the cave, Socrates states, “So our duty as founders is to compel the best natures to achieve that sovereign knowledge we described awhile ago, to scale the heights in order to reach the vision of the good. But after they have reached the summit and have seen the view, we must not permit what they are now allowed to do … Remain above, refusing to go down again among the prisoners to share their labors and their rewards, whatever their worth may be” (Book VII, p. 213-214, 519c-d). While it is unrealistic to believe that one person could bring justice to the entire mortal world, it remains for the philosopher to conduct his affairs in peace and in justice, allowing others to glimpse the light so that they too might turn away from the world of shadows. He must live intentionally and carefully, habituating himself to the shadows and remaining aware of the dangerous environment that exists under the tyrant. But should his survival allow the freedom of another from chains, then the philosopher can live and die at peace having fulfilled the obligation of