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Allegory Of The Cave Summary

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Truth or Lies Do we actually know what’s standing right in front of us, or is it just a mirror image of something we never would have imagined? Do we know the difference between lies and truths, or do we just think we do? The article, “The Allegory of the Cave,” written by Plato, makes us ponder these questions. Plato does not come out and ask these questions, but through the use of pathos, ethos, and socratic method, he hides these questions within the article, making the reader think about them on another level. His writing makes us question ourselves and the truth. Are we just seeing the version of the truth that we want to see? Plato tries to show us that not everything is how it seems. He does not talk directly about his point of the …show more content…

Some of the modes are obvious, but some are hidden in his writing. Pathos is used in a few different ways; he really focuses on fear, intimidation, and pain. These prisoners were locked up and immobile their whole lives. Even though being immobile was the only thing that they knew, they were still in pain. They could only see the shadows and had to come up with what they thought was going on behind them. The article states, “Whenever any of them was unchained and was forced to stand up suddenly to turn around, to walk, and to look up toward the light, in each case the person would be able to do this only with pain and because of the flickering brightness would be unable to look at those things whose shadows he previously saw.” These people were intimidated so much by the false shadows that they feared anything new. They also physically felt the pain of the light if they were ever turned towards the fire or taken out of the cave. He did not just hurt them physically or mentally, but both. Plato catches our attention using pathos by getting to our emotions and making us feel for them.
The socratic method was also evident in this article. Plato includes this into his example. He wanted to know what would happen to these people and how they would react to these specific circumstances. He uses logos by using the “if and then” method and by making the reader think about what he was actually meaning. He also uses

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