The Allegory Of The Cave

Some of the key images Plato uses in his Allegory of the cave are the shadows coming from the fire the prisoners see as they are chained up. Every time a prisoner gets a glimpse of these shadows they can’t help but wonder what these shadows represent. Since the prisoners have been locked up away for most of their lives they really have know understanding what these shadows are. The shadows represent a world that only the prisoners know, its really the only world or way they have known. These shadows are never fully understood by the prisoners until one of the prisoners is set free. When the prisoner is freed from his imprisonment he is then shocked by what he witnesses. The prisoner sees a whole new world; this world was very shocking to him because he had no idea that this world had even existed in the first place. His imprisonment was the only way of life he had ever known. This knew world that the prisoner witnesses represent the deal world, or that the

Has someone ever looked at you and immediately disregard you for you are just because of your ethnicity? Have you ever done it someone? Racism is a huge culture issue that we have not only in America, but in other parts of the world, but it does not matter the color of one’s. What really matters is the character they have withheld inside but are not given a chance to express because someone didn’t even bother to give them a chance. This is idea comes from the book written by Plato, “The Allegory of the Cave” where in the book Socrates speaks of man being in a dark cave all their lives not realizing the truth until once they reach the end of the cave to see that the light is the truth. The truth is the reality of life.

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".

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.

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 was brought up to understand there are actually three sides to the truth in all situations when you’re trying to achieve justice. My grandfather described them as yours, mine, and somewhere between these book ends reside the real truth. I believe that American society today is faced with evaluating perceived truths everywhere they turn when dealing with our government. We must determine what we can accept as truthful when communicated by our elected government officials who promote their own self-worth and interests of their supporters and constituents rather than the American public. As citizens of society, we must weigh this information and determine which version is best representative of the future state of government that represents our position. Socrates stated in Book VII, The Allegory of the Cave, “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images (Plato, 2015, p. 117).” This statement represents in my opinion how each of us must evaluate information presented and determine if you can accept that as our truth.

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

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.

In “Allegory of the Cave” the main protagonist is a prisoner who is held hostage in a dark cave. This prison is chained up from neck and feet, only allowing him to see straight in front of him. Along with the other prisoners who were also in the cave where the only light that could be seen was that of the fire behind them. Given to us that the only visible object they may see are those of the shadows from the objects carried by those outside of the cave. The prisoners were able to imagine the animals and figures that would pass by allowing them to create an infallible image of what was of the outside world. As time passed the prisoners continue to only visually see shadows passing by. When one of the prisoners was led free and was finally

In Book 7 of Plato’s Republic, "The Allegory of the Cave” is a symbolic story of which there are prisoners in a cave with a fire that is located behind them. They have always faced the wall of the cave and have only seen what was outside of the cave from the shadows. They believe that the shadows of the objects carried are real, but in reality, it 's just a shadow of the truth. The prisoners play a game where they guess what the shadows are and end up believing that it is the truth. However, when one prisoner escapes and faces reality, where the sun is a source of life, he realizes that the game was pointless. He seeks for meaning and truth from his journey outside of the cave. Socrates then insists that he must return to the cave and share what he has found with the prisoners because it will benefit everyone as a whole. However, when he returns and informs the prisoners, they react by not believing him and threatening to kill him if he set them free, because they are scared of the change that would occur after knowing the truth. Socrates believes that knowledge gained through senses is no more than an opinion. True knowledge is gained through reasoning and understanding. The allegory could symbolize positivity in modern American society.

Truth is an abstract concept by which mankind bases all knowledge. It is information that we believe to be indisputably and undeniably accurate. Yet how can we ever prove such information to be true? What about the “truths” that cannot be measured? To insist that something is objectively true is to maintain that it is always true outside of one’s beliefs or perception. However, our experiences, perceptions, and emotions all differ from those of others, and yet we still know them to be a definite truth. That is because in reality, all of the apparent truths that we know, or believe to know, are completely subjective.

The “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato represents the differences in the way we perceive reality and what we believe is real. In his story, Plato starts by saying that in a cave, there are prisoners chained down and are forced to look at a wall. The prisoners are unable to turn their heads to see what is going on behind them and are completely bound to the floor. Behind the prisoners, puppeteers hide and cast shadows on the wall in line with the prisoners’ sight, thus giving the prisoners their only sense of reality. What happens in the passage is not told from the prisoners’ point of view but is actually a conversation held between Socrates and Glaucon (Plato’s brother).

The Allegory of the Cave reminded me of an interesting theory called the Ivory Tower. The Ivory Tower is a concept of the divide between the "enlightened" and the "unenlightened", or educated and uneducated. The gap of knowledge leads to the creation of extremely different environments. The educated have difficulty communicating with and understanding the uneducated because of the lack of relatability. An example could be the "geeks of Silicon Valley". These geeks are highly educated and are creating products for the masses. The ideas of entertainment between the two group vary to extremes. This leads to a disconnect between the two groups. Many recent apps that have become popular recently, such as yik-yak an app created by two Georgia fraternity

Plato’s Divided Line of four ways of thinking lead into his Allegory of the Cave, which depicts four ways of living. The Allegory of the Cave illustrates the effect of education on the human soul, specifically how it brings the student through the four divisions of the Divided Line, all the way to the Form of the Good. The scene is set in a dark cave, where a group of prisoners have lived, and never left, since birth. The prisoners are bound by chains so that they can only look straight ahead at the cave wall. A fire is lit behind them, and various statues are mounted on a partial wall behind the fire, which cast shadows on the wall the prisoners are facing. The statues are periodically moved by another group of people, of whom the prisoners are unaware of. The stories that the shadows play out is what the prisoners believe are the most real things in the world. Thus, the prisoners are in the stage of imagination, because the shadows that they take to be real are copies of copies of the transcendental being. They exist in a “world of becoming,” and cling to images of the constantly changing physical world.

My reflections this week’s discussion is of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave/Republic. I found this to be an interesting reading and video. Life itself is a long road of learning. Throughout our lives, we perceive things to what we believe or want to believe whether factual or not. We also believe in what we experience bad or good. Sometimes that bad experience can hold us back from moving forward or maybe it is that good experience we believe we don’t need to look any further. Learning is part of life and it is most important. It is what molds us who we are and who we become. If we hold us selves back, we will never truly know what opportunity, knowledge or experience there is to be taken. Sometimes we will be those prisoners that don’t