Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Effable and Ineffable Knowledge

In Plato’s Republic, we are introduced to the Allegory of the Cave where we get a glimpse into the different levels of knowledge in terms of Plato’s principle to the ultimate achievement of The Form of the Good in life and the line between visible and intelligible knowledge. In order to determine a reality that is either too elusive to put into words or entirely ineffable, through the character of Socrates in Plato’s Republic, he effectively presents arguments in ways in which ineffable knowledge is obtained and proven through cognitive growth. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates elaborates on the story of The Allegory of the Cave where three prisoners are segregated from society and are placed into a cave side by

These prisoners represent the lowest stage of knowledge, since they have not experienced life and are convinced to believe in an imaginary life forms. Eventually, when the prisoners step outside of the cave into the true reality, they may interpret it as intangible, since there only interpretation of reality was inanimate forms in the cave, it is proven through life forms that they are describable, without the need to verbalize. In terms of evidence of understanding the form of good, when the prisoner’s eyes fully adjusted to the brightness of the outside world, as described, he lifts his head toward the heavens and looks at the sun. He understands that the sun is the cause of everything he sees around him - the light, his capacity for sight ect. The sun represents the Form of the Good, as described in book seven, as he looks up to the sky and knows ineffably that god has created these forms. It’s the

From a young age we are born curious and are constantly question life because it is in our human existence to seek fulfillment through questioning, in order to eventually grasp and understanding on “the good “in life itself. Referring this to The Allegory of the Cave, the prisoner’s curiosity within the cave and significant growth in knowledge that he passes through in the the cave, correspond to the various levels on the symbolic meaning of the line. The line, first of all, is divided into to halves; the visible realm, which is understanding through senses, and the intelligible realm being understanding with the mind. When the prisoner is in the cave he is in the visible realm. When he ascends into the daylight, he enters the intelligible. One can argue that knowledge is too elusive to put into words, but as indicated through the story, the prisoner could identify the forms because he was educated of them through the shadows, but not through living characteristics. Along the lines of intelligible and sensible knowledge, mathematics a heavily emphasized aspect implied by Plato, since he believed that mathematics drew us toward the intelligible realm beyond the realm of sensible specifics. When we move beyond applied mathematics and begin to contemplate numbers in themselves through correlation, then we begin to move from the