Comparing Plato And Socrates 'Allegory Of The Cave'
“Allegory of the cave”
Allegory of the cave is written as a dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Socrates. It tells the story of human beings living in a cave. They have been there since they were little. Unfortunately, this is not a normal kind of life we would think of. These people were all sitting on the ground, tied in chains. Their necks, their legs, were all fettered, and they were only able to see what was right in front of them. They could not move their heads. Far above them there was a fire. Also, between them and the fire a wall was built, above which the puppets were shown. The only thing those people were able to see was the shadow of those puppets and they mistakenly thought that this shadow was actually the reality.
When one of them was set free, walked outside the cave, and finally saw the truth. Although I am not really sure about this, in my opinion what Plato wanted to say, is that most of the people look at the world through the prism of themselves, of what they see and experience in everyday life. Through the vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. And I guess, what we should do is to look at the world from different points of view, to fully understand it, to get to know the truth, the reality. Knowing what exactly the truth is might be really hard, because we are limited due to our senses. As I have mentioned it before, people experience everything only through everyday life, through those five human senses, and that is why curiosity also brings us towards the truth.
For those people living in the cave since childhood, the only reality was the shadow shown right in front of them. So to hear what one fellow said about the outside world, it was something ridiculous. I guess we could say, some people are prisoners of their own stupidity, lack of curiosity to get to know the truth, the reality, lack of the important question “What if...?”. And to be able to experience the truth, a man has to be free, being a prisoner limits us to do anything. I think what Plato wanted to tell us through the chains around the necks and legs, is that we live in a frame with a painting painted with our five senses. We need to be more independent and inquiring as to get to know the truth, not only believe what we see, what we experience.
Allegory of the cave is written as a dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Socrates. It tells the story of human beings living in a cave. They have been there since they were little. Unfortunately, this is not a normal kind of life we would think of. These people were all sitting on the ground, tied in chains. Their necks, their legs, were all fettered, and they were only able to see what was right in front of them. They could not move their heads. Far above them there was a fire. Also, between them and the fire a wall was built, above which the puppets were shown. The only thing those people were able to see was the shadow of those puppets and they mistakenly thought that this shadow was actually the reality.
When one of them was set free, walked outside the cave, and finally saw the truth. Although I am not really sure about this, in my opinion what Plato wanted to say, is that most of the people look at the world through the prism of themselves, of what they see and experience in everyday life. Through the vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. And I guess, what we should do is to look at the world from different points of view, to fully understand it, to get to know the truth, the reality. Knowing what exactly the truth is might be really hard, because we are limited due to our senses. As I have mentioned it before, people experience everything only through everyday life, through those five human senses, and that is why curiosity also brings us towards the truth.
For those people living in the cave since childhood, the only reality was the shadow shown right in front of them. So to hear what one fellow said about the outside world, it was something ridiculous. I guess we could say, some people are prisoners of their own stupidity, lack of curiosity to get to know the truth, the reality, lack of the important question “What if...?”. And to be able to experience the truth, a man has to be free, being a prisoner limits us to do anything. I think what Plato wanted to tell us through the chains around the necks and legs, is that we live in a frame with a painting painted with our five senses. We need to be more independent and inquiring as to get to know the truth, not only believe what we see, what we experience.