Plato’s Cave is philosophical and abstract while Coates’s Dream is direct and clear-cut. In Allegory Of The Cave, Plato talks about true knowledge:
He’d have to get accustomed, if he were going to see what’s up above. At first, he’d most easily make out the shadows;and after that the phantoms of the human beings and the other things in water; and, later, the things themselves (Plato, 2, 516b).
From this passage, Plato uses abstract and philosophical language to convey his meaning of true knowledge. He does this by using a hierarchy and process for sight. Although this is an abstract and philosophical way to look at knowledge, Plato uses the outside of the cave as a tool for learning. Outside of the cave, there is room for exploration and