The Importance Of Education In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

“The Allegory of the Cave “is a theory put forward by Plato concerning human perception. People who are unenlightened have limited self- knowledge as this is illustrated by the three prisoners who live in a darkened cave without ever questioning what may exist outside their dwellings. The prisoners are chained in a particular way such that they can only see the wall they are facing. Emerging from the wall are passerby shadows created by the effect of the fire and the people walking with various objects behind them. To the restrained prisoners, the shadows are what encompassed their reality therefore making their lives a complete illusion. As a result, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake

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).

Once the person is outside of the cave they are blind and when they finally are able to see, they do not believe the outside world to be real. At first they can only see shadows and then eventually they are able to differentiate objects from one another. Lastly, the person is able to look at the sun itself. The sun represents good and now the person knows the truth. The cave is an illusion and the games they played in there were pointless.

In Plato’s, Allegory of the cave, a key theory I found was the importance of education. Plato uses an “allegory to illustrate the dilemma facing the psyche in the ascent to knowledge of the imperishable and unchanging forms” (104) Based on my research of the republic, the allegory can reveal multiple hidden messages. Plato describes, ordinary mortals are chained within an underground chamber, which according to Fiero, represents the psyche imprisoned within the human body. These mortals can’t look sideways only straight ahead. They also can’t leave the cave and are facing a cave wall that they can see shadows from a fire of what they imagine are men. These mortals have been in this cave since childhood, which makes them believe the shadows themselves are the men, not a reflection of an actual man. Again, according to Fiero, the light, represents true knowledge, and the shadows on the walls of the cave represent the imperfect and perishable imitations of the forms that occupy the world of the senses.

The "Allegory of the Cave" is Plato's attempt to explain the relationship between knowledge and ignorance. Starting with the image of men in fetters that limit their movement and force them to look only ahead, this is the idea that all men and women are bound by the limits of their ignorance. Men and women are restricted by the limits of the education of their parents and the small amounts that can be culled from their environment. Images and shadows are representations of those things surrounding us that we see but do not understand because of our limited knowledge. As we obtain the ability to see things more clearly in the cave that is our ignorance, we start to then

First of all the reason that the allegory of the cave is persuasive in its reasoning and deductive elements is because as Plato describes the prisoners of the cave as perceiving only what it is only in the cave. “And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?.”(Plato) This is Plato’s minor premise if the prisoners know of nothing else they will only dwell on what they know which is the atmosphere of the cave. This is deductive because on one hand the prisoners know only of the cave and on the other that’s all they know so the only conclusion is they can think about only things they have “perceived”. Plato is describing the mentality of ignorant and uneducated people who never seek to learn anything more outside of their reality.

In Book VII of Plato’s The Republic, the allegory of the cave paints a picture of ordinary people imprisoned in a cave. They are facing away

Plato who was a Greek philosopher was born around the year 428 BCE, where he was known for opening an academy. The academy was considered the first university in the western world. In “The Allegory of the Cave”, three prisoners were tied up and could only see the shadows that reflected from the wall. They have been living in the same cave as prisoner for practically there whole life. The shad`ows represent things that are believed to be true. One prisoner got free and experienced the reality of the world but the other prisoners just laugh at him when he comes back. Plato is telling people In “The Allegory of the Cave”, the rhetorical appeal is a metaphor of the sun and symbolism.

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.

The person who leaves the cave is able to experience actual reality outside of the cave where reality is more than just the shadows on the wall. On the outside they are able to see the forms of trees and flowers and so on and by doing so they are able to experience their own thought for the first time. When he notices that the sun above is what makes everything visible outside the cave he forms an understanding of good.

Journal 5: The Allegory of the Cave The Allegory of the Cave is a metaphor that Socrates came up with. It’s supposed to show the effects of enlightenment and education on humans. The metaphor starts with a group of people who have lived in a deep cave since they were born. They are bound so that they can only look straight ahead. However, due to the fire in the cave, and the statues on the walls, they are able to see shadows.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Socrates illustrates society's perspective on the world around them. Using symbolization, he describes the journey of a man, who finds enlightenment while trapped in the ‘dark.’ It starts off with men chained within a cave cut off from society, because of this their version of reality is twisted. Seeing the world through ignorance they believed only the shadows they saw upon the wall were real. Once one of the men escaped the cave, he realized there was a whole new world waiting to be discovered.

Book VII of The Republic begins with Socrates’ “Allegory of the Cave.” The purpose of this allegory is to “make an image of our nature in its education and want of education” in other words, it illustrates Socrates’ model of education. In addition, the allegory corresponds perfectly to the analogy of the divided line. However, this Cave Analogy is also an applicable theme in modern times, for example, the movie, The Matrix, is loosely based off the Allegory.

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).

Socrates describes people in a cave since birth, bound so they can only see what is in front of them. There are shadows and sounds that can be observed but the source is unknown. Socrates says in 515c, “…such men would hold that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of artificial things.” Their reality is limited by their experience. Then a prisoner is freed from the bonds and is forced to look at the fire and the statues that were used to cast the shadows on the walls. He is overwhelmed by the revelations and learns that the shadows were not the reality.