Preview

Plato's Allegory Of The Cave Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
664 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Plato's Allegory Of The Cave Analysis
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Plato’s Allegory of the Cave envisions the world as a dark cave, with human beings as trapped prisoners, and all of their experiences as nothing but shadows on a wall. Plato was an Ancient Greek philosopher who founded the Academy and is the author of philosophical works of unparalleled influence in Western thought. Plato is informing us of the world around us, and is guiding the reader in the journey from ignorance to wisdom. Plato's Allegory of the Cave is meant to be a wake-up call for everyone to stop settling for an imperfect, unexplored life full of ignorance. Since Plato believed that human beings could eventually free themselves and head upwards to the real world by leading a life of philosophical …show more content…
Plato believes that education is the surest way to an ideal society. In today’s society education is atopic brought up in debates quite frequently because it is important that the youth are educated so they can fill in jobs and run the country when they are older. This does not mean everyone gets an education, for there are many countries where education can not be afforded or is not the best. Yet in today’s school system students are not treated for their full potential. Lastly, Plato’s Allegory of The Cave had ensured through the centuries because it can still relate to today’s ignorant society. For example, the government will give the people little information yet they take it as the truth. As if the government could never lie to its people, but Plato could not disagree more. The Allegory of Cave has become one of the most unforgettable, talked-about moments in the history of philosophy. In one way or another, almost every major philosophical viewpoint since Plato has responded to, attacked, or reimagined this foundational image of human existence. Plato helps guide the reader to the journey from ignorance to wisdom, showing his belief that education is the surest way to an ideal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Plato’s philosophical beliefs by the Allegory of the Cave represents how people view the world by what they see and hear and that we are blinded because of it. The cave itself represents how we are all trapped from the real knowledge that we are too blinded to see. The shadows in the cave are supposed to be what we think is true and that they’re really just shadows of the truth. The prisoner leaving the cave represents the people who actually try to go out and seek knowledge and the sun is representing the truth in life. The prisoner returning to the cave represents how most people are too scared to except the philosophical truth and are actually scared of…

    • 122 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In studying all of the symbolism included, it becomes apparent that the Allegory of the Cave is a representation of the philosopher’s place in society, and the other prisoners reaction to the escaped prisoner returning is representing the reaction people have of philosophers, and becoming aware of the truth philosophers hold. The Allegory of the Cave illustrates book 5 and 6 for us by showing the effect education has on the human soul, and how education helps us move through the different parts of the divided line, then will eventually take him to the form of the…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, the nature of good is represented through the deprivation of light the prisoners of the cave experience. In this imaginary representation, the individuals are not so much prisoners of the actual cave as they are of their own ignorance. The prisoners are surrounded by darkness and faint light, depicting shadows into reality. If light is the representation of truth, then the darkness engulfing the cave represents the lies the prisoners ignorantly believe. Because the darkness is all that they have known, they…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave” (Plato) is a metaphor that shows how we believe reality. What it is showing is that the things we perceive are imperfect reflections of forms that only represent reality. In the Allegory, Plato uses a cave where prisoners are chained down and forced to look at the wall. Plato shows that the prisoners do not actually know what reality is. The readers understand that the puppeteers behind the prisoners are using objects to create shadows to real things and people, but the prisoners are unable to turn their heads, so they don’t know anything…

    • 1830 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory of the Cave 1

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages

    References: Srivatava, S Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Meaning and Interpretation Retrievedon May 6, 2011 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/platos-allegory-of-the-cave-meaning-and-interpretation.html…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    already;” (Plato 4). Spoken by Socrates in reference to the philosophy of life, this quote depicts the meaning of broadening our horizons in order to gain knowledge and escape the shackles that confine us in the form of deceit. This quote is portrayed in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” as the prisoners detained in the cave are deluded by their perception of reality, and the prisoner that escapes loses that distorted world and becomes enlightened. The cave is a representation of the hidden lies in which the prisoners are provided at the premises of their knowledge and are restrained from the truth to remain ignorant. Ultimately, one of the prisoners discovers that the world in…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato wrote “The Allegory of the Cave,” to answer main questions that many ask themselves sometime in life. We ask, “Why are we here?” “What is the point of all of this?” “What is reality?” The story is based on a conversation Socrates, a man who inspired many of Plato’s writing, and Socrates’ student, Glaucon. This movie explains a man, Neo, having interest and doubt about the world around. Neo wants to meet Morpheus, the most dangerous man alive, to answer his…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford/…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato is a historical Greek philosopher and one of Socrate’s pupils. After Socrate died in 399 B.C., Plato left his home in Athens and returned approximately twenty years later. “The Allegory of the Cave” is a short story filled with symbolism and metaphors that Plato had written before he died. In the story, Plato wrote about Socrate and his brother, Glaucon, discussing the steps to obtain the truth and why one should obtain it.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The allegory of The Cave is an attempt to show that what we are seeing are reflections, abstractions, and illusions. What we have believed in are not the real thing and never have been, but because we've acknowledged them for so long, it's hard for us to accept it in any other way. Plato's allegory of The Cave is a symbol for the contrasts between ideas and what we perceive as reality. Plato argues that we are the “cave slaves.” We live in a world of shadows, where we don't see the reality of ideas. However, it is possible to climb out of the cave, to be released from our shackles, but the process is painful. When the "cave slaves" climb from the cave and we see the world for how it should be, we see that ideas are eternal and perfect even though the physical world crumbles.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato’s allegory of the cave began with a description of a dark scene which included a group of individuals who lived in that cave since birth and knew nothing of the outside world. These individuals were confined and restricted to the point where they could not turn to their sides or look to see what was behind them, but could only look forward. There was no natural light seeping in, the walls were damp and dark, and all these individuals could picture or see came from shadows that were thrown on the wall by the light of a fire, a fire which was behind them, and behind that fire was a partial wall. On top of the partial wall were different statues that were controlled “puppeteers” who were not visible and resided beyond the partial wall.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Plato's Allegory of the cave is a very old story that many people can relate to. People can relate to the prisoners close-mindedness or even the prisoners being locked up. One group of people who cannot relate is modern-day highschool students. Plato's ancient allegory of the cave is not relevant to modern-day high schoolers because the prisoners represent close-mindedness and the unability to learn.…

    • 183 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory In Plato's Cave

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Plato’s Cave conveys ideas that remain true at any time throughout history. There are many ways to view this, such as all people living in individual caves being one possible interpretation of this allegory, as there is knowledge and experience which they do not possess which would allow them to see more of the world. The caves wherein everyone resides can be left freely, though only transfer to a new restricted view of reality is possible.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tristram Shandy

    • 2581 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave”. The Narrative Reader. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2005. P 37-39 Print.…

    • 2581 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Appearance and Reality?

    • 2466 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave, Plato,presents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended…

    • 2466 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays