3. Explain how the Allegory of the Cave represents Plato’s views about the nature of knowledge and the nature 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). In this allegory the cave represents opinion. The chains represented prejudice. The fire represented the sun. The shadows represent physical objects. The staircase represented philosophy. The outside of the cave represented the transcendental world. The moment of
There are several themes represented in the allegory of the cave, one of the first themes you come across while reading the Allegory of the Cave is ignorance. The chains binding them to the cave could merely be interpreted as a metaphor for ignorance, as if they wanted to fulfil enlightenment, all they would have to do is ask questions and seek the truth; however they all decide to stay put in the cave and accept the reality presented to them. The reason for this ignorance is because the cave is steep and rigid with sharp rocks; it’s a tricky journey throughout. The prisoners are deep in the cave and struggle to see the
First what is perception and ignorance? Let us define perception as one’s view of life through rationalization of the external world and ignorance as an assumption without proof and contemplation. In the “Allegory of The Cave”, Plato uses Socrates to explain different types of people, one who sees the physical realm accepting ideas as they form and one who lives in knowledge realm by questioning those ideas. People of the knowledge realm are obligated to helps those in the physical realm by removing what Socrates refer to as ignorance through questioning. This is shown as prisoners of the cave look to the walls as their perception of their world which relates to people’s limited perception of the world such as people who grown up religious deny anything outside of God, in addition, people in higher state of perception are obligated to help those in lower states; this relates to real world as people seek mentors for advice.
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
In what might be the most famous and recognizable image of Plato’s Republic, the message of the allegory of the cave is present not only in Book VII, but throughout the entire dialogue. Plato-as-Socrates uses the allegory to express his views on philosophy’s role in his city of speech which is later shown more deeply with the five regimes in Book VIII. The cities in the five regimes undergo a degradation as philosophy moves further and further away from the ruler; which also mirrors the cave. Plato reveals his belief that the city and philosophy are inexorably linked through the soul of the tyrannical man in Book IX, saying that without philosophy the soul withers and learns to fear and hate the city because of the person’s willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve their desires. In the various books, the allegory of the cave can be compared and likened to the actions occurring within the pages of the text. From the very first line in the Republic, the Allegory of the Cave is shown symbolically throughout the dialogue from beginning to end.
Humankind is filled with individuals testing each other and competing with one another to be the greatest, ignoring the reality of life. In the “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato justifies this by displaying a parable that serves as a metaphor for life. This parable teaches the reader how people wish to remain in their comfort zones and disregard the truth. It portrays the struggle of facing different realities that alter the illusion of one's life. In the story, he described a group of prisoners chained inside a dark cave; their only source of light comes from a burning fire that is used to create shadows. These shadows display images that the prisoners each interpret as the reality; however, once one is released and is struck by the light, he
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 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
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 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.
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 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
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.
The two sources in the “Allegory,” are the fire in the cave and the sun outside. The fire represents the sun; however, the sun represents the form of the good. Which, is a good that makes everything else good and knowable. Although the fire represents the sun in the visible realm, the sun signifies the form of the good once the prisoner leaves the cave to go into the intelligible realm. After discovering the shadows, the water, and the images that are in the intelligible realm the prisoner see’s the sun. The sun is a representation of the form of the good, that was discovered through the transcendence of understanding the philosophical truth, justice, and knowledge. Once we understand the form of the good, we can understand our own lives of what justice can be, we can then ponder how our community and government can organize itself in its own just
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.