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Plato's allegory of the cave analysis
Plato's allegory of the cave analysis
Plato's allegory of the cave analysis
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In Plato’s “Allegory of a Cave” the main goal and plotline for the prisoner was to be able to go to the light to gain a full concept of truth, reality and justice. After passing the entranceway, he is met by the light which provides him “sharp pains” which eventually turn into being dazzled by it. However, as he grows customary to the light and the enlightenment that is brought forward to him, Plato questions whether he will fully grasp the notion of it. To present instinct Plato writes, “And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain his his eyes which will make him turn away to thale refuge in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the thing which are now being shown to him? True, he said.”
Experiencing a new discovery leads to a better understanding of life. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it explains how a group of prisoners are inside a dark cave looking at shadows believing it to be realistic; however, one prisoner gets free and leaves the cave and experience the outside world seeing real nature and the brightness of the sun and adjust to it. That person returns back to the cave to tell what he had experienced outside the cave to the other prisoners as the other prisoners would not listen to him and neglect his words. That person however cannot adjust to the darkness inside the cave once he got adjusted to the brightness of the outside world. Like Plato’s allegory of the cave, good living does require us to leave the cave.
Plato’s Republic, Book 7, talks about the metaphor referred to as "the allegory of the cave. " This metaphor in philosophy is use to describe the importance and effect education or lack of education has on the human mind. In book VII, education is referred to as a light that brightens the different paths that exist in life. It helps open the human mind to things that it was unaware of. Another point made in book VII, was that by educating yourself you become less ignorant to what is out there in the world.
Allegory of the Cave- First Draft The Allegory of the Cave is an extended analogy presented to us by the Greek Philosopher Plato. It is concerned with human perception of knowledge and truth. Plato believed that real knowledge can only be acquired through philosophical reasoning. In the Allegory, Plato portrays to the mistakes of people who mistake empirical knowledge for being the ultimate truth and differentiate them from people who have sought real knowledge. Plato believes that the society is like prisoners in a cave and one can only emancipate from its conventional beliefs by seeking knowledge outside the cave.
In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners had only shadows on the wall to look at since birth. Once a prisoner was released to the outside world, he soon found out that the shadows had only been a lie, that once the cave was lit up with light from the sun shining in, everything he once knew had changed and disappeared. This event leads the prisoner to face the question of whether should he go back to the cave to share what he knows about reality. I believe that he shouldn’t go back to the cave to share with the other prisoners what he knows because they haven’t learned the same way that he did, so they would believe the freed prisoner is bullshitting them. What is bullshit?
Plato, the author of “The Allegory of the Cave”, was a Greek philosopher who used the power of dialogue in order to more effectively communicate his philosophy. [3] Plato firmly believed in the pursuit of enlightenment of the soul being of upmost importance; therefore, the need for enlightenment of the soul through knowledge supersedes that of learning basic skills. The fire in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave represents myth created by man. According to Plato the fire in “Allegory of the Cave” represents the false truth created by man.
Socrates’s allegory of the cave in Plato’s Republic Book VII is an accurate depiction of how people can be blinded by what they are only allowed to see. The allegory does have relevance to our modern world. In fact, all of us as a species are still in the “cave” no matter how intelligent or enlightened we think we have become. In Plato’s Republic Book VII, Socrates depicts the scenario in a cave where there are prisoners who are fixed only being able to look at the shadows on the wall which are projections of things passing between them and the light source.
Imagine living a majority of your life as usual, to awake one day and realize that your senses deceived you, and your world wasn't real. That predicament matches the one Neo, the main character of The Matrix, and a released prisoner from Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” face. Different time periods separate the two stories, but they still give off the same prevailing afterthought; what is real? Plato's work focuses on the philosophical effects of understanding your life, then discovering the real world upon release. The Matrix, a story of a computer simulated world set up to replace the real post-apocalyptic world for humans, “modernizes the original allegory and adds a more humanistic appeal.”
Plato was able to describe the terrible state the prisoners were in and then uses metaphors to relate the state the prisoners were in to the state that the world is in. The metaphors relate truth to the light and shadows and the first or easiest thing one can see and strengthens Plato’s underlying message by both simplify it and relating it to the audience. The Allegory of the cave demonstrates the
#2 Plato’s Allegory In Modern Day Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is about the human perspective and enlightenment. In todays society Plato’s allegory is still relevant and is deeply rooted in education. College students are a perfect analogy for the “Allegory of the Cave”. We are told from the very beginning that we need to have an education to be successful in life.
As a result the other prisoners are stuck in an illusion of their reality, due to the fact they cannot see past the appearance of the shadows and accept a truer reality. They are stuck in the shadows of the cave, and cannot be enlightened by the sun's truth. On the outside the sun lights up the world and clearly shows what reality actually is, light cannot reach inside the cave therefore they are stuck in the dark. In this allegory. Plato clearly distinguish appearance to be what we can comprehend by using our senses.
Searching for the truth is very challenging, as the world today entrenched in lies. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” briefly tells a story about cavemen being chained on most parts of their body, restring all movement including their head, since childhood. Then, he discussed the consequences inflicted onto the cavemen, specifically their perspective towards the truth after being chained for a long period of time in the dark cave, which resembles many events occurring in a person’s daily life. Based on the discussed effects, the author argues that human beings should always seek the real meaning of truth.
The state of most human beings is depicted in this myth of the cave and the tale of a thrilling exit from the cave is the source of true understanding. Plato has portrayed the concept of reality and illusion through the allegory of the cave. One of Socrates' and also of Plato's, chief ideas was that of forms, which explains that the world is made up of reflections of more perfect and ideal forms. In the Cave
Are we always at the mercy of others and our own experiences? Are the truths we cling to always reality? Are we ever truly free or are we always prisoners in our own mind? These are some of the questions that went through my mind while reading Plato’s allegory of the cave. Through them I’ve come to understand one of the biggest themes in this allegory is our ability to “shackle” ourselves mentally, but also our ability to free ourselves if only we have the courage.
Plato’s short story the Allegory of the Cave, Plato portrays a scene in a cave to the reader that analyzes human actions. The story is about a group of men that are chained for their entire life. The only thing they are exposed to are shadows on the wall of a fire burning by people behind them. The people exposing these men are hiding the truth of the outside world. Plato reveals that humans are easily fooled into believing what they see.
