Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
b. Questions on Plato, Coates, and Gregory Rodriguez [Rodriguez is on Sakai]
1. What do the den (the prison), the prisoners, the shadow, the sun, and the journey out of the cave symbolize? Quote from Plato’s discussion. Why would Plato use an allegory to convey these ideas? Cite specific passages.
In “The Allegory of the Cave” Plato, a philosopher, teacher of Aristotle, and best known for his book “The Republic” describes an allegory about prisoners in a cave that played guessing shadows that would pass by. The cave represents “an illusion” (Plato 281). This can be interpreted as the ignorance bubble that people live in. In their comfort zone, they live in their own world of knowledge. In other words, the prisoners are the people of the
world that “have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot movie” (280). To put it differently, they are chained from viewing new views about the world. Another important key, is when one of the prisoner is “liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck and walk and look towards the light” (281). Here, the “light of the fire is the sun” (283). For this reason, the sun represents the true knowledge in the world. Nonetheless, when the prisoner returned to enlighten his fellow friends with the truth. The prisoners did now want to believe them. They rather believe in the “illusion” (281) of shadow that they always known than the true about their existence.
1. What do the den (the prison), the prisoners, the shadow, the sun, and the journey out of the cave symbolize? Quote from Plato’s discussion. Why would Plato use an allegory to convey these ideas? Cite specific passages.
In “The Allegory of the Cave” Plato, a philosopher, teacher of Aristotle, and best known for his book “The Republic” describes an allegory about prisoners in a cave that played guessing shadows that would pass by. The cave represents “an illusion” (Plato 281). This can be interpreted as the ignorance bubble that people live in. In their comfort zone, they live in their own world of knowledge. In other words, the prisoners are the people of the
world that “have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot movie” (280). To put it differently, they are chained from viewing new views about the world. Another important key, is when one of the prisoner is “liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck and walk and look towards the light” (281). Here, the “light of the fire is the sun” (283). For this reason, the sun represents the true knowledge in the world. Nonetheless, when the prisoner returned to enlighten his fellow friends with the truth. The prisoners did now want to believe them. They rather believe in the “illusion” (281) of shadow that they always known than the true about their existence.