Plato's Allegory Of A Cave

Plato is a philosopher who developed a concept of questioning all things and tries to teach others to question all aspects of the world. Many around him would disapprove and turn down his idea approaching the world, but Plato had students who followed his lessons, ideas, and believed in him; his students including his brother, Glaucon, and Aristotle. Within the article, Plato and his students have a conversation about how humans become contented with reality-distorting ideologies and tend to disregard philosophical reasoning that leads to understanding of truth. Plato wrote “Allegory of a Cave” as a means to criticize empiricism despite man’s natural tendency to perceive “truth” with the senses through the uses of analogies, symbolism, and

In the allegory, Plato tells how the prisoners are to understand and observe the shadows as they see them (201). Thus, he is using the object of shadows to be recognized as an individual’s perception. Through the symbolism of the shadow, Plato is able to easily demonstrate the masking of the possibility of a truth. As the escapee is learning about the all the things that are new concepts to him, he is also questions the things that are presented to him and tells the other prisoners what he had observed. Plato uses the escapee as a means to symbolize a philosopher who questions things also enlightening others to other concepts. Additionally, Plato utilizes the cave and the light within and without of the cave to symbolize the misconception of one’s perception and the actual truth. For example, in the “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato says, “the prison-house is the world of sight” (203). He implies the cave is a limit of what one can see, while outside of the cave there are no limits to perceiving an idea. Being limited to what one is able to experience, the individual will view a concept with difficulty to knowing the truth. While one who is not limited to experiences, he or she is able to question and deeply understand the truth. Therefore, Plato suggests the number of different experiences an individual has determines how he or she interprets a