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Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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By the time I reached Bunchu Road I was huffing and puffing in the June heat. It had taken me thirty minutes to jog from my house to the park where he told me to meet him. Brad appeared from behind a tree and walked towards me with a smirk on his face. “Sorry I’m late,” I stammered as I gulped air into my lungs, “I almost got killed crossing the highway.” “Stop over exaggerating.” He said, and gripped my hand tightly. “I have something to show you.” I stumbled along behind him as he led me to the wooded area behind the playground. Brad held my arm and guided me over tree roots to a small, open area with a picnic table. I had just sat down to rest, when he moved in for a kiss. I leaned away, but didn’t say a word of protest. I didn’t want to …show more content…

When I was very young I believed whatever my parents said I should, as most children do. My parents raised me in the church and told me I was a Christian. In Plato’s work “The Republic” he presents his “Allegory of the Cave”, which describes the education system and how little truth is actually presented. In the selection, Plato describes this scene: “Conceive them as having their legs and necks fettered from childhood, so that they remain in the same spot, able to look forward only, and prevented by the fetters from turning their heads.” My experience with religion has been much the same. I was told exactly how to think and act, and I did it all because I felt accepted. I knew I was pleasing my parents, and I felt like I belonged to something. For the longest time, I honestly did not know any other way to …show more content…

However, in society there are expectations to have a place, and know the rules and expectations. People thrive off of a sense of belonging. We want to feel like we are a part of something, so there is a place for all our pride and dedication to go. We invest ourselves in relationships, even potentially toxic ones, because fitting in or pleasing people is so important. It does make sense to place parts of our identity in things and people we care about. Our environment and people we associate with have a lot of affect on how we develop. We desire to be accepted by our peers, our loved ones, and even people we don’t

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Plato compares a number of things in this essay- the material world to the world of ideas, the life of the mind to work of governing, silver and gold to virtue and wisdom. How does he use his comparisons to make his arguments? 2.)Plato creates the Allegory of the Cave to be a conversation between his mentor Socrates and one of his student Glaucon. Plato sets the story to demonstrate that the “blinded” prisoner or in a more cultural sense the men of iron. The Greeks created 4 classes of civilization the gold,silver,bronze and the iron.

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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.”

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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.

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1) In the allegory of the cave, Plato’s main goal is to illustrate his view of knowledge. A group of prisoners have been chained in a cave their whole lives and all they have ever been exposed to were shadows on the wall and voices of people walking by. The prisoners in the cave represent humans who only pay attention to the physical aspects of the world (sight and sound). Once one of them escapes and sees the blinding light, all he wants is to retreat back to the cave and return to his prior way of living. This shows that Plato believes enlightenment and education are painful, but the pain is necessary for enlightenment and it is worth it.

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For most if not all of my childhood life I spent the majority of my time trying to be like other people. Especially with other girls I was friends with. I would like something they did or wore, and I would do exactly that without any question. Over time, I didn’t really know who I was. I knew my values and my morals that I wanted to stick to, but if someone asked me what my favorite food was, I couldn’t tell you.

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“We could go for a bike ride,” Silas suggested. “That's a good idea, let's do that,” Frank says. So we all headed outside hopped on our bikes and started riding down the road. We didn't know where we were going so we just rode down the road hoping it would lead us somewhere.

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Plato was a well-respected, intelligent philosopher and a student of Socrates. He understood the risks it took to try and educate the public on new ideas because he had witnessed firsthand the trials of Socrates. In book 7 of “The Republic,” Plato writes an allegory about a cave with 3 prisoners. This allegory could be interrupted in many ways, but I believe he introduces the passage as an analogy explaining what it’s like to be a philosopher who’s trying to educate people. Most people in the world are not only comfortable in their ignorance but are aggressive to anyone who points it out, and that’s exactly what happened to Plato’s teacher.

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Plato establishes his philosophical beliefs in the Allegory of the Cave stating that it is possible to only believe in the things that have been shown to us in a sense of self reality and only that. He believes that once someone leaves the "dark" cave and into the light, that's when true knowledge comes into play. In the Allegory of the cave Plato believe that there at two levels of reality and two levels of knowledge. In the levels of knowledge I think what he's trying to say is that the shapes/ shadows inside the cave represent reality which we have from a sense of experienced knowledge. It may be an imperfect truth because we manipulate ourselves into believing we know some type of experienced knowledge but in a way we only know what's been

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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.

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It is this human desire to belong that motivates the insecure to change who they are. They clearly find it too difficult to belong when they have a more defined sense of identity in comparisons to those who they wish to identify with. A strong sense of identity can often lead to a sense of independence or exclusion, but this is not always the case. Rachel Lapp, member of the Amish community is in countless aspects different from those in mainstream society (Walton et al.,

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In my speech on the defunding of Planned Parenthood I kept a very even tone of voice. I could always understand myself and I thought I did a good job sounding confident speaking in front of an audience, which is something I struggle with. Renan Havill also mentioned that I “spoke clearly and effectively.” The passion I feel about my subject was very evident at times by the way I changed my voice to emphasize certain points I was making. I could definitely improve on keeping an even pace throughout my speech.

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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.

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