The Allegory Of The Cave, By Plato

The point that Plato is trying to make is that everybody is capable of learning; however, the only way we will actually learn is if we turn our whole body and look at the sun. When Plato says that the only way to turn from darkness to light is by "turning the whole body"(Plato, trans C.D.C Reeve, Hacket, 1999, p.212), he means that we must turn our soul to the light. When we turn to the light, it will help us gain knowledge, and it can make our soul healthy. With a healthy soul, our life force is the best and we'll be able to live virtuous. However, most people will never a life with a healthy soul because they're not willing to use the effort it may take to fully turn their body to the "brightest thing". "The soul has a hunch that the good
And the reason he decided to escape was that he wanted to question everything he learned from inside the cave. When he finally left the cave, he was in disbelief; it was pretty much a culture shock to him. Everything was so different compared to his life inside the cave that he didn't want to believe any of the world outside of it. When he finally accepted the new ideas, he discovered the truth. Since he was able to discover the truth, his body and soul were towards the "brightest thing of all"(p.212) as well. After being able to bear the "sun," the prisoner wouldn't be able to go back into the cave and re-learn the false ideas. "If this man went back down into the cave and sat down in his same seat, wouldn't his eyes be filled with darkness, coming out of the sun like that?"(p.210). From this, we can be certain that the prisoner would not be able to go back because all he would see is darkness. This is a good example of him turning his "whole body" because he was ready to question his current beliefs and try and accept new ones; because he was capable of doing this, he learned the