Allegory Of The Cave
The “Allegory of the Cave” can be explained by using the Abercombie’s perspective. The story is about the one of the prisoners who is chained inside the cave since his childhood. The prisoner’s understanding of the world is very limited to what he can see and hear in the cave such as the shadow and the voice of the people crossing behind. People’s schema is always influenced by the context and used to interpret the information, so that the prisoner believes the shadow is the real object and the voice he hears is coming from the shadow. He unconsciously assumes the voice is from the shadow. However, there are more contexts in the outside world; thus, when the prisoner is released from the cave, he receives more information and makes better observations to use a better schema; therefore, he will believe the outside world is the real world, which shows that the context influences his schema and his interpretation of the world changes.
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In the beginning, when the prisoner is released from the cave, he could not see anything, because the sun was too bright for him, so that it was too painful for him to open his eyes.
At first, he could not believe that the outside world can be real, because he has not enough experiences in the outside world to use schema to interpret the information he receives. However, once he spends sometime in the outside world and looks at the sun and shadow, he finds out shadow is the result of the sun hitting objects. The experiences change his schema. It made him think that he finally learns the truth and that the life in the cave is not a real world. He accepts the outside is the real world, because he gains the new context about the shadow. Now, the prisoner is at the observer state 2, because he gains new information which influences his
schema.
Next, the prisoner goes back to the cave to let the other prisoners know about the outside world. However, since the prisoner is now used to the brightness, now he is blind inside the cave. His eyes (sensory organs) are now accustomed to the outside world. Plato states if the prisoner tries to take all other prisoners outside the cave, they will kill him. From Abercombie’s perspective, it is because the other prisoners do not have enough information to interpret the facts about outside world; therefore, they cannot believe the prisoner and their schema will make them think they will become blind if they go outside. Thus, they will most likely refuse to go to the outside world.
Lastly, the prisoner who leaves the cave does not belong to the culture in the cave after he experiences the outside world. The culture is built by the group of people who shares experiences and information. Since the prisoner leaves the cave once, he now has the knowledge and the experience of the outside world. In fact his interpretation of the world is now different from the other prisoners. The real world for the prisoner is outside and the real world for the other prisoners is the cave. Therefore, the prisoner does not fit into the culture in the cave anymore.
In conclusion, if Abercombie reads this piece, he might think this piece is to explain how the experiences influence the schema to interpret the information
In the beginning, when the prisoner is released from the cave, he could not see anything, because the sun was too bright for him, so that it was too painful for him to open his eyes.
At first, he could not believe that the outside world can be real, because he has not enough experiences in the outside world to use schema to interpret the information he receives. However, once he spends sometime in the outside world and looks at the sun and shadow, he finds out shadow is the result of the sun hitting objects. The experiences change his schema. It made him think that he finally learns the truth and that the life in the cave is not a real world. He accepts the outside is the real world, because he gains the new context about the shadow. Now, the prisoner is at the observer state 2, because he gains new information which influences his
schema.
Next, the prisoner goes back to the cave to let the other prisoners know about the outside world. However, since the prisoner is now used to the brightness, now he is blind inside the cave. His eyes (sensory organs) are now accustomed to the outside world. Plato states if the prisoner tries to take all other prisoners outside the cave, they will kill him. From Abercombie’s perspective, it is because the other prisoners do not have enough information to interpret the facts about outside world; therefore, they cannot believe the prisoner and their schema will make them think they will become blind if they go outside. Thus, they will most likely refuse to go to the outside world.
Lastly, the prisoner who leaves the cave does not belong to the culture in the cave after he experiences the outside world. The culture is built by the group of people who shares experiences and information. Since the prisoner leaves the cave once, he now has the knowledge and the experience of the outside world. In fact his interpretation of the world is now different from the other prisoners. The real world for the prisoner is outside and the real world for the other prisoners is the cave. Therefore, the prisoner does not fit into the culture in the cave anymore.
In conclusion, if Abercombie reads this piece, he might think this piece is to explain how the experiences influence the schema to interpret the information