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Socrates Allegory Of The Cave

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Socrates’ “allegory of the cave” represents the conflict between education and the nature of man. In the cave, the people are exposed to new knowledge and shown the light, however as they are shackled to the caves walls they are limited by what they see and choose to believe. The darkness in the cave represents the unknown or a lack of complete understanding, while the light illustrates the truth and education. The light projects itself in the cave producing castings against the walls. Meanwhile, these shadows that the prisoners see in the caves depict their perceptions of how the interpret the images. These shadows ‘trap’ the men by disguising the truth behind their false certainty. Humans make up a society where they gain their knowledge …show more content…

In each metaphorical cave there is a chance to be educated to learn from new discoveries, and let the light guide us, along with the possibilities of misguided perceptions or shadows. In Socrates’ “allegory of the cave”, Socrates and Glaucon discuss whether the prisoners will see the items passing them as truth or if they will believe that what they learned in the past ss the truth. They concluded that even if they are “to look at light itself” they will disregard what they are shown and believe what they have perceived prior (515e). This disregarding often occurs in modern day, especially during debate. Even when someone is given facts, they are likely to disregard them in order to fully support their opinions. Nature controls humans over the possibility to educate them. It is in man’s nature to stand by one’s beliefs which makes men more likely to avoid becoming enlightened. The light in the cave burns the eyes of the men chained to the walls. In our society, the truth fails to help our cause which also leads to men disregarding the truth. The separation of beliefs leads to the formation of factions. The factions are groups that share dissenting opinions. Our modern society has many factions that all believe in different beliefs. Socrates explains factions as the result of many educated rulers possessing different perceptions of the shadows they see (520d). There are many just men

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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],’

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Reading Socrates’ Allegory of the Cave gave me different perspectives when it comes to the relationship between intellectual pursuit and good governances, and the relationship between the physical world and our mind in the pursuit of gaining knowledge. The Allegory of the Cave is a parable that displays how, we as humans, are afraid of change and what we do not know or understand. Basically what Socrates is trying to argue is that based upon what people are brought up to believe, that is how they think and they are afraid to change that mindset. Socrates suggests that the shadows compose what life is like for the prisoners because they have never seen anything else; because they are chained up and can’t turn around, they can only see what’s

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3078607 Professor Cheryl King English 1301.81049 24 September 2016 “Allegory” Response “Everything that is seen is not always what is made out of it.” What does that quote mean? Are there people who actually understands this quote and live by it? In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Socrates explains to Glaucon that life is like being chained up in the cave and having no general knowledge about life. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave portrays a positive message by demonstrating the importance of education.

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In Plato's Allegory of the Cave a conversation is taking place between Socrates and Glaucon. the conversation is meant to discuss human perception Socrates attempts to explain that human perception is only what we can obtain through the senses. Plato explains that the senses are only a part of the whole picture and that concrete perception alone is never the entire story. This can explain human error in perceiving scientific and philosophic notions in his time as well as in today's life. Plato explains to Glaucon a situation of prisoners in a cave who have only been exposed to very dim lighting there entire lives and have not been exposed to other people or even looked upon each other.

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In denial and scared of philosophical truths, they do not listen and stay in the cave of society happy with the “shadows” of what they see in front of

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In Plato’s Republic, he uses his teacher Socrates, in order to tell his Allegory of the cave, to explain his theory of Forms, the divided line and what to Plato is the ideal Political system. There are prisoners tied and chained from the neck down in front of the cave’s wall. Behind them at the opening of the cave there is a fire in front of which people are passing holding up statutes reflecting shadows on the cave wall. The prisoners can only see what the people decide to show them. This to Plato resembles society and how it only shows people what is convent, which in most cases it blind people from the Truth.

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The ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ by Plato is a metaphor concerning human perception. Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is nothing more than opinion and, in order obtain “real” knowledge, we must use philosophical reasoning to gain it. “The Allegory of the Cave”, begins by depicting a dark scene where prisoners have been chained and bound since infancy and their heads can only see the stonewall in from of them. Behind them are a fire that has burned continuously and a walkway that produces shadows from the people outside. The shadows that were cast onto the wall were seen and perceived as real objects.

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Furthermore, the allegory of the cave can be linked to the concept of "epistemic closure," where people only seek information that confirms their existing beliefs, disregarding alternative viewpoints. As a result, people are only exposed to a limited range of perspectives, and many are not aware of alternative viewpoints. And yet, that is not where the problem lies. By the same token that some prisoners in the Allegory of the Cave remained ignorant of the world outside of the cave by refusing to examine their belief that the shadows on the wall are the only reality, it is in the unwillingness of the people to seek diverse perspectives, question their assumptions, and engage in critical

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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.

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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Confucius’s ideas is the most interesting topics that has the most impact on me, and I think there are meaningful to share. I think the idea can apply to people’s daily life and has a tremendous meaning. Therefore, I want to share my personal reflection from what I learned from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Plato’s famous pholisogh is The Allegory of the Cave. The summary of Allegory of the Cave is a theory about human perception that Plato observes, and Plato states knowledge should be learn from philosophical reasoning, and it distinguishes how people mistakenly think they know the truth and people who really understand the truth.

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The allegory of the cave reminds us that we should question the reality that we fail to understand because we’ve come to accept the reality that is presented to us rather than seeking out beyond our limitations. The story “Allegory of the Cave,” by the Greek philosopher Plato, Plato tells a story about cave people who are chained up and facing a wall. Their reality is what is being reflected from behind them and are unaware of what goes on beyond the cave. Through the Allegory of the Cave, Plato is trying to tell us about how the human perception of reality is limited, and the only way to achieve a true understanding is through being educated and brought out of what you’ve become accustomed to.

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The prisoners, unable to turn their heads, mistake the shadows for

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To begin, I will remind the reader of the symbols and the descriptions Plato used in his allegory; The Cave - Keeps people trapped, forces people to believe our current knowledge is true. The Shadows - Are the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence, meaning is received by the senses, ensures knowledge.

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Introduction Plato, a famous Greek philosopher wrote the Allegory of the Cave. He tried to answer some of the profound questions which arose about the nature of reality. He tells the story of 'Allegory of the Cave' as a conversation between his mentor, Socrates (Plato’s mentor), who inspired many of Plato's philosophical theories, and one of Socrates' students, Glaucon (Plato’s older brother). He uses an allegory as a short informative story, to illustrate 'forms' and the 'cave,' in his main work, The Republic (which first appeared around 380 BC). It is one of the most perceptive attempts to explain the nature of reality.

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