ipl-logo

Plato's Allegory: The Republic By Plato

1251 Words6 Pages

Question #4 In the allegory written by Plato, he describes a story of a once prisoner becoming enlightened from the truth of the world he once never believed to exist. The story details a number of symbols to represent everyday life of opinions, beliefs, and knowledge, and how each impacts our perceptions and attitudes to everyday life. Plato emphasized the power of knowledge and the responsibility to share that knowledge with those around. However, as detailed in the allegory how we share that enlightenment with others is not always as well interpreted as we hope it will be, where sharing those ideals face criticism and denial. However, where we may have success in collaboration is having discussions on a different level of understanding …show more content…

Plato tells the story of a group of people chained in a cave from birth, in which throughout their entire life they have only come to understood reality as the shadows dancing on the wall from the firing burning behind. The images projected on the cave are their reality, and is all they believe to be real in life, further they develop opinions and beliefs based on what they understand to be real based on the shadows. When a prisoner escapes for the first time and discovers the outside world, the exposer to the new light temporary blind the prisoner, as he has never experienced this light before. However, once adjusted to the exposer of the suns light allows his to learn that there is more to life than he once believed, and understands not everything is, as it seems. The story continues when the once chained prisoner returns to the cave to share his new knowledge with the other prisoners. However, the other prisoners are not as accepting of what he has to say and the knowledge that he brings. This is due to the fact that they do not have that same understanding, and are only entrust of their own perceptions and attitudes based on what they have experienced and developed their opinions and beliefs around. Change is not easy, particularly when someone has an opinion, or way of doing something for a number of years that has been unchanged. Like the prisoners in the story, people often become resistant to accepting a new idea that they have not learned on their own, particularly when it challenges the preconceived norms which they have only every

Show More
Related
1112 Words | 5 Pages

In the Allegory of the Cave by Plato the people who can only see shadows create their own version of the truth based on what they know, “To them [the people stuck in the cave unable to move],’

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

In reality, many people live without an absolute knowledge of the world and often times, they are comfortable with this ignorance. Likewise, Plato introduces the idea of this unawareness through The Allegory of the Cave, a short story in his published book, The Republic: Book VII. In his book, he narrates the story of a few prisoners who are held captive in a dark cave, where the only light that shines through is from a fire that burns behind them. He further explains that the prisoners are completely bound and unable to move their body or head. Moreover, he reveals that the captives grew up with no outside communication and consequently, the way of life in the cave was all they knew.

Read More
773 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
588 Words | 3 Pages

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.”

Read More
1043 Words | 5 Pages

In “The Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoner was ignorant of the true nature of their reality and was limited by their perception of the world. In Plato, Socrates illustrated an image of a prisoner chained to the cave wall their whole life, facing only a blank wall. Behind them was a fire burning that was casting a shadow. They believe this casted shadow was their only reality. However, one of the prisoners made a bold attempt to free himself and escape outside the cave.

Read More
1232 Words | 5 Pages

This message entails people's outlook on reality and the perception that is presented to them. Overall I believe that Plato’s allegory has proved to exemplify a more effective transition from illusion to reality due to its relatability to Socrates message depicting human perception and

Read More
200 Words | 1 Pages

Plato’s allegory is a powerful metaphor for contemplating a divide between ignorance and enlightenment between the “visible” world and the “intelligible” realm. Plato’s allegory to better

Read More
1220 Words | 5 Pages

Yet, the opportunities that a person face will either be physical or mental. In the Allegory of the Cave by Plato, a prisoner is exposed to the luminous light of the sun and accepts what he believes it symbolizes. Plato declares, “He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to be hold? Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him” (Plato 588). When the prisoner had the ability to contemplate the sun, they created purposes that the sun could have.

Read More
1656 Words | 7 Pages

This essay is on The Allegory of the Cave, Book VII of The Republic by Plato. This paper is written to explain what the allegory, defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one, or a story with two levels of meaning” is as construed by Plato. This paper will 1) Present that the allegory presented in this story is a number of Plato 's key philosophical postulations 2) The strategy he used to explain his philosophical views in The Allegory of the Cave. 3) How do his views affect and or apply to reality, education and media in our society today.

Read More
1177 Words | 5 Pages

Plato an ancient Greek philosopher, whose philosophical work influenced the founding of western thought. Born in 427 B.C in the town of Athens, during the time of the Peloponnesian War Plato witness the collapse of Athenian democracy and emergence of an Oligarchy, establish by the Spartan. The repressive system of government was known as the “the thirty” the thirty were elected officials who managed all of Athens affairs. However, the end result of the thirty was repressive governing for the Athenian people who were accustom to democracy. This was one major event, that had a profound impact on Plato life, due to the unjust ruling placed upon the Athenian people, by 403 B.C democracy was restored once again and Plato had an interest in politics,

Read More
1468 Words | 6 Pages

Plato was a Greek philosopher, the student of Socrates and the mentor of Aristotle. In his work, the Republic, Plato introduces his ideas using the dialogue of Socrates and others he is having a discussion with, such as, Glaucon. Most of these are inconclusive and leave scholars interpreting and disputing the similes and ideas being illustrated. One of the most well known allegories is, “The Allegory of the Cave,” in which Socrates explains the different domains of knowledge. The underlying ideas of the allegory and how it is applicable in today’s society will be discussed through the thoughts of sense-perception, knowledge and focusing on key ideas within the allegory itself.

Read More
621 Words | 3 Pages

All they have ever seen is the wall in front of them and the shadows the puppeteers behind them cast. All the prisoners know is the cave and its shadows and finally when one of them is free and able to leave the cave he cannot believe this other reality he is seeing. The sun, the water, his own reflection, he is shocked by this new world and starts to question everything. The cave and its shadows were his truth and now this alternate reality is hard for him to believe. The prisoner in Plato's allegory struggles to adjust when he first learns about this new reality, but he eventually understands after seeing with his own eyes.

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

In “The Allegory of the Cave” Plato presents a scenario where there is a group of people whose life consists of the shadows on the wall of a cave, this cave is their entire world as they have not experienced anything else. These people know nothing of the outside world because of how they are chained next to each other and not able to move from looking at the cave wall. Outside a fire is burning and people stand in front of it facing the cave opening except the cave people don’t know that. The figures shadows are all they see and its these shadows and wall that are what’s real and the truth to them. The people in the cave try to name the figures and this is how their world and society is founded.

Read More
1658 Words | 7 Pages

Also, outside the cave realm, people were engaged in their daily work; however, a wall had been built between these two worlds and restricted the cavemen from seeing the world. They could only see the shadows of people along the wall and accepted those shadows as the reality (Plato, trans. 1997, p. 514b-515b). This masterpiece of Plato is one of the most famous and perceptive assay to illustrate the nature of reality. The cave stands for the state of most human beings, and the tale of escape from the cave is the origin of the true understanding. In this composition, Plato believes that the world is made up of two parts; the forms, and the reality.

Read More
1159 Words | 5 Pages

The emergence from the cave is an enlightenment of intellectualism, when all the difficulties and confusion of life is gone and only reality exists. Plato uses the shadow of fire as a metaphor for intelligence. The people who emerged out of the brightness represent truth; the freed prisoner. The chained prisoner would “look towards the firelight; all this would hurt him, and he would be too much dazzled to see distinctly those things whose shadows he had seen before”(Plato

Read More

More about Plato's Allegory: The Republic By Plato

Related Topics

Open Document