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Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Plato’s allegory is from book VII known as “The Republic”, which is regarded as a utopian guide to some (Kries). Plato made this allegory so the reader may draw a picture of the cave he describes. Plato was a philosopher and disciple of Socrates, he lived from about 429 – 347 B.C.E. in Classical Greece. Plato lived surrounded by fellow contemporaries of Socrates as well as like-minded friends. Plato’s allegory caught my understanding and allowed for a smooth depictions to be drawn. He has an easily comprehensible method of writing, which made it simple to understand his ideas. What had been interpreted from the allegory is that the cave and the shadows in it are the world as we see it through our senses, the cave …show more content…

The actual world the philosopher witnesses is the world seen through the eyes of one who has been enlightened and perceives what is “more” or, what the world actually consists of. The way common man treats the philosopher is they see him as abnormal, someone who is not right in the head and sees illusions. Common man, seeing the abnormal philosopher as a threat the common men take action and dispose of the aberration. Plato advocates that the enlightened philosophers work with common men in their governing and lead them however, the philosopher should be a reluctant leader and not enjoy the position. Once the philosopher enjoys the position of leading they will compete and struggle to maintain power thus, devolving into the common men they were meant to lead. Plato states that philosophers would prefer to remain among their own kind in the enlightened world however, it is their duty to lead their fellow men towards enlightenment. In the allegory Plato states that once one descends back into the cave the …show more content…

In the allegory it in not stated the escapee found others or a town, had he, there would still be no change in if it were to happen today. There would be no change due to the fact that everything is new to the escapee in both instances of escaping, everything would still be alien to the former cave dweller. Those who remained in the cave/ ignorant would again, be the same today as in the allegory due to being ignorant of what lay past their sense of truth. Humans would prefer to believe they know rather than to admit

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Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society. The allegory of the cave is an understanding of what the true world is and how many people never see it because of their views of the society they are raised in.

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