Plato's Allegory Of The Cave Essay

In Plato’s The Apology of Socrates, Socrates speaks of a friend of his, Chaerephon. One day, Chaerephon, who believed Socrates to be the wisest of men choose to prove his belief by asking the oracle of Delphi if there was anyone wiser than Socrates. In response the oracle replied that there was no man wiser than Socrates. After trying to find someone wiser than himself, Socrates concluded that, “If I am the wisest of men, it is only because, whereas other men think they know when they do not, I know that I don’t know.” On the surface this statement is considered confusing because while he is claiming to be wise he is also claiming to be ignorant. When considering wisdom most would define it as meaning the person knows everything there is to know. However, according to Socrates to a wise man is not a man who knows everything or think he knows everything but a man who constantly seeks the truth and more knowledge. And the man who is constantly seeking knowledge would understand that the more one knows, there is still a lot more that is unknown and needs to be known, because an ignorant man would not seek to know more. Another way to understand this statement is through Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, from Plato’s Republic.

Behind and above the prisoners is a fire. In between the prisoners and the fire is a raised stage where people are holding images of objects, which casts shadows on the wall the prisoners see. Later, Socrates talks about what happens if one of those men were to be freed of his chains and introduced to the world outside of the cave. The man would see that not only are the shadows not real, but are images of something else and conclude that what he took as truth in the cave wasn’t the complete truth. Socrates