Socrates 'Cave Allegory'

Enlightenment
When Socrates argues that, “the unexamined life is not worth living”, he means that living a life where you don’t know the truth about reality isn’t worth it. A life where someone is enlightened is a life worth living. Socrates sees everything as having a mere layer that disguises the truth of the real important things in life. To uncover the truth, Socrates explains that you have to live an examined life. He does this by questioning everything and everyone in order to find truth and virtue. He believes that by examining yourself, you will understand and know yourself more, leading to living an enlightened life. Also, by self examining and looking for your purpose and importance, you can reach your life's full potential. Questioning

In the “Cave Allegory” there are cave dwellers who are forced to only look at a wall, which displays shadows of objects carried by people who pass by a huge fire behind them. To these prisoners, these shadows are their reality, their truth. They do not know that they are mere shadows. In the story, when one of the cave dwellers is forced out of the cave into the light, he is disoriented because of how bright it is outside. Once he gets accustomed to the light, he explores and is then enlightened about the truth. He has seen how life really is and found that he has been living a lie. He would much rather live this life, this life of truth, than be living a lie in the cave. He wants the other cave dwellers to know the truth. Once the cave dweller tries to tell the others about the truth, they call him off as a fool and possibly even gets

Before Socrates became enlightened with all this knowledge, he was just like the cave dwellers who could only stare at the wall. But the more and more he examined life, he became the enlightened prisoner. Socrates has found the truth of life and wants to enlighten others in Athens about what he has learned. Along with him living a life full of knowledge and truth, he wants others to do the same. In the process of trying to do this, Socrates offended some ignorant people of high authority, who do not like to be condescended. He was seen as a fool, like the cave dweller, and charged with impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. In the Apology, Socrates was put on trial and he tried to enlighten the jury and make them understand his way of life. The jury was not convinced and Socrates was then sentenced to death. Socrates stood by his way of life all the way to his death. He had mentioned during the trial that he too would rather die, like Achilles did, then be forced to stop searching for the truth and living an examined