Allegory Of The Cave: Plato's Views About The Nature Of Reality

There are four specific symbols in the cave allegory; the prisoners, the roadway, the fire and the sun. the prisoners represents people and philosophers of the real world.

The Allegory of the Cave is to envision a group of prisoners who have been affixed in an underground cave. Their hands, feet, and necks are tied with the constraint that they can't move. What they believe to be the truth is just a shadow depicted on the wall of the cave. “Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along with puppets of various animals, plants, and other things moved along” (Allegory of the Cave). These obscurities are the only objects the prisoners have known of during their lives, so they do not question them which leaves them in a blissful ignorance of the world around them. These prisoners are living in their own reality and are unaware of the actual reality that is ongoing in the background. The idea of “ignorance is bliss” is presented in Allegory of the Cave because the prisoners are living a life of ignorance. They live in a superficial world which they are perfectly content with. As this ignorance is presented, Plato shapes the prisoners to blissfully live in their surroundings. If one of the prisoners were suddenly released from the chains that hold his/her in his/her current state of ignorance, the movement would be uncomfortable, even agonizing. The prisoners would be released from their normal habitat. Plato revealed symbolism about the unknown in his work Allegory of the Cave. The shadows on the wall symbolize the

In its most simple and basic terms, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” creates an illustration of prisoners who are being kept in a cave; their crimes are never mentioned, but their punishments are beautifully described. Each prisoner, according to Plato, is kept within a cave and is chained in such a way that not only do they face the cave wall, but they are also unable to turn their heads, making the cave wall the only thing they see. Behind them and higher up in the cave is a fire. By utilizing the fire, there are “men carrying past the wall

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

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoners would be restrain in the bottom of the cave where they cannot see or talk to each other. In the opening of the cave there is a light of fire, a screen, and a road. Travelling on the road is merchants with their animals and cargo. The prisoner in the cave can see the shadow of anything that passes the opening. One of these prison was able to venture above and see the objects portray by that shadow as they are seen in real life. The cave is a representation of darkness and ignorance because the prisoner know no better or are capable of understanding. The prisoner that got free emerge into light where he is free to learn whatever he pleases and can find the truth of the shadows seen in the cave

There are many things in life that some can understand and some can’t driven by perspective. In the Allegory of the Cave the understanding of enlightenment is portrayed with the use of prisoners in a cave. It talks about prisoners who have only been able to see shadows until one is freed and has a different perception than others. The overall theme of “the Allegory of the Cave” is to be able to be open minded to other perspectives in life. The author used imagery, symbolism, and moral conflict to portray this theme.

The opening line of the Allegory of the Cave “Let me show you in a figure how our nature is enlightened.”. When he says this, I think he is trying to explain how people in society only base their ideas off ideas of others. Another way of putting this is that we only see things from the perspectives of us and everyone else. We often don’t truly understand the reality of a situation as we don’t usually turn around ourselves as a philosopher would to see the whole situation from another view. This can be applied to many examples of everyday life. Another way I can understand this in a more common phrase is that we only love what we know, and not many of us want to see reality by putting ourselves out there and thinking and looking outside the box, or cave in this case to see a different perspective.

My interpretation of this allegory, is what we understand and call truth can be an illusion as to what happened in the cave. In the cave there was a group of men who were prisoners in a cave. These prisoners have been chained in that same cave ever since they were born. The men would often see shadows and hear echoes. Every time each of the prisoners saw the shadow on the walls they had a different perception. However, the understanding of the objects in their minds were nothing but their imagination, so they assumed false realities of the outside. When one of the prisoners had the chance to see the outside and actually face reality, he was fascinated. He saw the sun, plants, animals, and what the outside actually is. When he gets back he is

When discussing “Allegory of the Cave” it is important to know what it is all about and it why it took place. Prisoners are chained and can only see darkness. They are facing a black wall and are projected to figure out what is real in life and what is not. They are not able to turn their heads. Plato wanted the people be aware of what is going on around them. There are puppets that are behind the walls that are showing shadows. The prisoners can only see the shadows and not the real objects. The can also hear the echoes, but nothing else. The prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. What this really means is no matter what was really behind the wall

Plato’s cave is the representation of reality constructed by someone else, that the knowledge we have depends on our senses and experience. The prisoners in the “The Allegory of the Cave” are bound inside the cave and have never been outside of the cave. The only things they see are shadows made by a fire and the objects cast behind them. They have never seen the real object and think the shadows of the

The allegory of the cave story is about a group of prisoners living in caves and their necks trapped by chains. They cannot turn around, and the fire behind them. Because they already accustomed to the surroundings which is really dark. So they naturally think that the shadow is the real things. Later, one of the prisoners was be released. He turned and walked out of the cave, and gradually adapt to the sunshine. Here, the sun is the symbol of truth/justice. He realized other prisoners may not know the cave of life is an illusion, and the shadow on the wall is not the real things. So he back to the cave and told it to his friends. However, these prisoners didn’t believe him, and laugh at him, even want to

The allegory of the cave is about a group of prisoners that were chained up in a cave with their backs turned to the exit of the cave, unable to see what was going on in the outside world. They occasionally would see shadows on the wall and would try to depict what they were and what they saw. Then, one of the prisoners was freed and able to go outside of the cave for the first time. He first adjusts his eyes to the lighting and the environment because everything seems so surreal to him since he was in the cave for so long it took him a while to adjust. He begins to question the shadows he would see inside of the cave but is told that the shadows were mere reflections of the real things.

In this allegory, we are given a story about an underground cave whose entrance and exit lead to an upward daylight. Behind the cave there is a burning fire for the prisoners. Ever since they were a child, these prisoners are chained to the ground and all they can see is the front of the cave. The burning fire behind them creates a shadow of people passing through the walkway of the cave. These prisoners perceive the shadows and echoes as reality. If we release one prisoner out of the cave, this particular prisoner will be startled with the world outside of the cave. He cannot fathom as to what he is perceiving outside of the cave is real. First, the sun will blind him but eventually he will see the stars, moon, and shadows during the daylight

The lasting condition impressed by an image can sometimes like as a flame, spreading throughout other discourses for long after its initial kindling. Such is the case with Plato 's allegory of the cave, which has for over 2,500 years inspired significant contributions to theorizations of truth. Despite the age of Plato 's work, the truth in the allegory is demonstrated by its own universality; as a formative piece of literature, the story acts as a gateway into Western discourses of truth. Truth remains an elusive quality, particularly when it is elevated to a universal value. Elevation as such brings into question the possibility of universal truth. The allegory of the cave renders a depiction of truth as a universal value that appears at once illuminating, damaging, and unforgiving — but this much only ever seeks to assert a version of truth fashioned by Socrates Plato himself sought to replicate.

The shadows represent the perceptions of those who believe the empirical evidence guarantees knowledge. Trusting simply what you see is making yourself effectively blind. The world we see is only a reflection of the forms the world represents. If you believe that what you see should be taken as truth then you are merely seeing a shadow of the truth. The fire represents the manufactured, blinding thoughts separating one from reality. After, one of the prisoners escape from the cave who then realized he was in darkness, his view on reality was wrong. Once shown to the the fire such as the prisoner, one’s “eyes would hurt”. People will be utterly shocked at what was thought to be truth and what is truly reality. The cave was merely a entrapping bubble. The prisoner then began to realize his mindset was previously not turned the right way. One “Not turned the right way” represents one’s false knowledge. Once the prisoner saw the “sun itself” was he enlightened.The sun represents the source of life and knowledge. It represents a new reality and