Plato's The Allegory Of A Cave
The Allegory of the Cave Analysis
Plato’s The Allegory of a Cave there are two men discussing whether or not someone who has only been kept in the dark would have trouble adjusting to a new enlightened world. Plato was a teacher, so his story must’ve been for his students to ponder. Plato tells his story in a very solemn way, almost as if he’s teaching the audience in a very patient way. Plato compared the man in the dark to someone who had little knowledge and when he entered to a world with light he had learned new things and brought out of his ignorance.
At first, the metaphor Plato uses makes the man seem completely close-minded and ignorant. “Here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they
cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads” (Plato 1); this sounds very much like parents who strongly ingrain their beliefs into their children. Those children grow up thinking that how their parents think is the right way to think. For a long time the parent’s mentality is the same that the children carry with them heavily throughout the early part of their life. It’s not until later that they start to think independently, but often times a parent’s belief still influences what they then start to form their own thoughts about. Back to the man, how hard must it have been to learn entirely new things? When the foundation everything you had believed in is completely shaken up it’s hard to adapt, but this man did. What Plato seems to be saying is that people who are ignorant can be enlightened with education-and vice versa- people who are intelligent can be swayed into ignorance with poor influences around them: “Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye” (Plato 4).
The last page ties in an example of civil disobedience. “Who then are those whom we shall compel to be guardians? Surely they will be the men who are wisest about affairs of the state” (Plato 6); with this Plato says that we should want the people governing to be smart, to be aware of what the people want. Many politicians are the man in the cave, trapped in the darkness. Until they listen to what the people want and need, they will stay that way. However, if they do everyone and make the necessary changes to fit the people they will become enlightened, and learn how to help the people clearly.
Plato’s The Allegory of a Cave there are two men discussing whether or not someone who has only been kept in the dark would have trouble adjusting to a new enlightened world. Plato was a teacher, so his story must’ve been for his students to ponder. Plato tells his story in a very solemn way, almost as if he’s teaching the audience in a very patient way. Plato compared the man in the dark to someone who had little knowledge and when he entered to a world with light he had learned new things and brought out of his ignorance.
At first, the metaphor Plato uses makes the man seem completely close-minded and ignorant. “Here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they
cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads” (Plato 1); this sounds very much like parents who strongly ingrain their beliefs into their children. Those children grow up thinking that how their parents think is the right way to think. For a long time the parent’s mentality is the same that the children carry with them heavily throughout the early part of their life. It’s not until later that they start to think independently, but often times a parent’s belief still influences what they then start to form their own thoughts about. Back to the man, how hard must it have been to learn entirely new things? When the foundation everything you had believed in is completely shaken up it’s hard to adapt, but this man did. What Plato seems to be saying is that people who are ignorant can be enlightened with education-and vice versa- people who are intelligent can be swayed into ignorance with poor influences around them: “Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye” (Plato 4).
The last page ties in an example of civil disobedience. “Who then are those whom we shall compel to be guardians? Surely they will be the men who are wisest about affairs of the state” (Plato 6); with this Plato says that we should want the people governing to be smart, to be aware of what the people want. Many politicians are the man in the cave, trapped in the darkness. Until they listen to what the people want and need, they will stay that way. However, if they do everyone and make the necessary changes to fit the people they will become enlightened, and learn how to help the people clearly.