Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

It is difficult know or judge what may be truth, as many people find it too difficult to fully accept what is true and rely on a set of lies and the reality that only exists on the level of which we’re aware of it. In Plato’s arguments in The Republic, he brings up the idea of truth and the ways in which it can be altered by both individuals and society. He paints a theoretical picture through The Allegory of the Cave to explain the idea of layers of reality’s truth and the way that humans relate to it, proposing that what we believe to be true is based merely upon the things that we already know and to update this to something that is more true. It also depends on the mindsets of the people considering revisions to life’s commonly believed

In doing so, we alter what is to be perceived as truth. He poses this thought: “When and for whom is [a lie]... useful? Isn't it useful against enemies, and, as a preventative, like a drug, for so-called friends when from madness or some folly they attempt to do something bad?" (382c) In this way, he proposes that lies can be easily used in various situations to alter the outcome to our desires. Regardless of whether we are trying to build someone up or tear them down and doing it for our own good or for entirely selfless reasons, deception is a commonly used method to reach a different set of circumstances than using the truth would end up at. For example, if you tell your friend that their horrendous fashion-disaster of a shirt looks good on them to avoid damaging their confidence. Now they live under the presumption that they have good taste in clothing, which may be a lie- referred to as a “noble lie” by Plato in the context of lying for the sake of others’ feelings- but it is the extent that truth goes to them. As a result, now they might wear the shirt more often or buy several more that are similar; this is drastically different than how they would react if you told them that the shirt was awful. At this point, it would take them coming to a realization about the shirt, something that is much more difficult once a something considered truth has been established. This is a simple example, but both can and should be considered at more complicated levels as well. Considering the impact that thing like the media, religion, celebrities, social networking and the internet have on the actions of large societies, what is portrayed as true and false has a tremendous impact. Distortion of truth can be very dangerous depending on the potential results, but using lies to create different outcomes is something that