Illusions In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Unlike Socrates, “who wrote nothing at all”(Magee, 2016, p.24), his pupil, Plato, had left written work famously in the form of dialogues. One of Plato’s main philosophical ideas is explained through his writing on the Allegory of the Cave, where prisoners are used to convey the message of illusions as well as representing the idea of us as human beings being “imprisoned in our own bodies” (Magee, 2016, p.31). For instance, as one of the prisoners succeeded in escaping the cave, and consequently attempted in gaining knowledge on the world outside, he was later regarded as “unintelligible” (Magee, 2016, p.31) as the other prisoners did not believe him due to being unaware of the idea of life outside the cave existing so they dismissed the escaped
Plato adored the natural elements of the world, even if they were flawed. The natural elements are presented in their true form without any external factors contributing towards their beauty, and therefore Plato’s negativity towards the arts is solely as art deceives the natural form of the elements and presents an illusion, as that is not their natural form, it is this belief which caused Plato to argue the idea that a perfect society will have no elements of art within it, as it would then mean illusions are created. The idea of art having an illusion and hold over humans is also justified through the view that “the more beautiful the art the more powerful this appeal is bound to be” (Magee, 2016, p.29), implying how the most beautiful of all arts are the ones that are the most powerful of all and therefore are the ones which create an illusion. Plato furthers his resentment towards art by indicating how art “glamorizes the fleeting things of this world”, suggesting how art only there for a brief duration and therefore is not presenting elements in their true form as the art will eventually decay. Nonetheless, Plato’s main idea of illusion is presented both within his hostility towards the arts and in his Allegory of the