Plato's Allegory of the Cave
Plato's Allegory of the Cave is used to show how one would rise from simple illusion to being philosophically illuminated.
Plato's allegory also gives some examples of the difficulties that the are incurred. I fully agree with Plato's allegory and will be explaining why I feel this way towards his allegory. I will also examine three symbols from the allegory after shortly explaining the allegory of the cave itself. I will also use an experience from my own life to help show how the allegory of the cave can be directly represented in every day life and how the symbols I have examined, while not being exact, are still present.
In the cave there are prisoners. These prisoners cannot move because they are restrained by chains. The only thing that they can see is a wall that illuminated by a great light. This light is actually a fire behind them, which has a low sitting wall in between itself and the prisoners. As men walk below the wall holding up objects made out of every type of materials and in all sorts of shapes, the shadows of these shapes are placed on the wall in front of the prisoners.
The low wall serves as a sort of "stage" or "blind" that keeps the men hidden and allows only the shadows to be illuminated onto the wall for the prisoners. The prisoners have known nothing other than the cave and its wall of shadows. While these prisoners have been watching the wall of shadows they have been able to hear the low talking of the men passing by the low wall. Knowing no better they have associated the noises to the shadows. To the prisoners the truth is only the wall and its shadows. At one point a teacher releases one of the prisoners and lets him up to show him his surroundings of the cave. When the prisoner looks around at the actual objects that create the shadows he is rather confused, and feels that the shadows are the truer of the objects because those are the things he has always known. The teacher then lead the prisoner up to the surface and out of the cave. When the teacher and the prisoner reach the world the prisoner is held fast until the pain of the light and confusion are overcome by his understanding of these visions. The prisoner would then first see the shadows, but then slowly he would see all things in their reality. As he starts to see the objects of physical reality he would soon see his reflection in water, the stars and moon in the sky and the sun hanging in their places. This will lead the man who was once a prisoner to contemplate many things, but he will eventually contemplate himself.
No sooner would the prisoner start to think about himself then he would begin to think about his fellow prisoner still in the cave, and he would feel pity for them. For his fellow prisoners are still believing what they see, and what he once thought as well, as being reality. Meanwhile those in the cave have a reward system that will give a crown to the prisoner who recognizes and remembers the shadows the best. The man who was once a prisoner would no longer envy for this crown, since he now knows the simplicity and sad truth to the physical cave. The former prisoner would rather suffer than live a life under the false truths of the cave.
The former prisoner ventures down to his fellow prisoners to help enlighten them as to the nature of things as they truly are. When the former prisoner would speak of these things to the prisoners they would think him mad and laugh outright at him. The prisoners would ridicule the former prisoner, and if he would be caught trying to release one of the prisoners, they would put him to death for trying to release one of them.
☼☼☼☼☼
In Plato's allegory of the cave a very large component to the reality of the cave are the chains. In the allegory of the cave these chains keep the prisoners from escaping and finding the truth that is the outside world. The chains that restrain the prisoners, while real to the prisoners in the cave, are no more real than the shadows are. The importance of chains is that they restrain the prisoners, whether the chains are actual metal or simply mental chains does not matter for both restrain their prisoner from the truth.
Another reality of the cave is the shadows themselves. The prisoners know only the shadows and to the prisoners these shadows are the truth. The prisoners know nothing outside of the shadows and the noises to which their lives have been secluded to. Just as the truth of the shadows is that they are not physical but only images, the physical outside world of objects is also bound to the senses. After a while the freed prisoner starts to contemplate himself, this contemplation is the true freedom that Plato's allegory of the cave speaks of. The enlightenment of thinking philosophically is the base issue for the allegory of the cave. The shadows that are the prisoners only truth, are actually the darkness that encompasses those not enlightened to thinking philosophically. The prisoners believe the shadows to be the only truth, the shadows therefore represent the darkness that keeps the prisoners from thinking philosophically about anything since the truth as they know it is directly in front of them.
The third symbolic object I believe to be largely important is the crown that is given to the prisoner with the best memory or recognition of the shadows. This crown is a privilege to those in the cave, yet to the freed prisoner the crown has no significance or importance. This crown is given to the prisoners by the same men that carry the objects back and forth to create the shadows. This crown reinforces the prisoners way of life to not think beyond the level that will get them the prize of the crown. I see the crown as a representation of man's physical possessions. Sometimes these possessions make people think that as long as they think or do enough to obtain that physical possession then why do more. The crown in Plato's cave while being a physical envied prize, it is truly an object that really only limits the prisoners mental progression.
In a similar development from imprisonment to freedom I came to understand that my religious upbringing was in its own way keeping me prisoner.
In my personal journey I too had chains but they were not physical. They were mental and habitual
.
Plato's allegory of the cave is an important teaching tool of the imprisonment of the philosophical mind. The allegory of the cave has three symbols that I believe to be hugely important, while there are many, these three of the chains,shadows, and the crown are the core of the allegory of the cave. The chain that restrains the prisoner, the shadows that keep the prisoners mind in the darkness, and the crown that means nothing except to the prisoners who know nothing outside of the cave. While my own journey is different from the cave in certain ways it also parallels the allegory of the cave in its religious restraint and thinking outside of institutional teachings. This journey allowed me to alter my contemplation about the bigger picture of religion for my own spiritual health.
As SOCRATES is describing the cave and the situation of the prisoners, he conveys the point that the prisoners would be inherently mistaken as to what is reality. Because we as readers know that the puppeteers behind them are using wooden and iron objects to liken the shadows to reality based items and people, the prisoners (unable to turn their heads) would know nothing else but the shadows, and perceive this as their own reality. This is an important development to the story because it shows us that what we perceive as real from birth is completely false based on our imperfect interpretations of reality and Goodness. The general point thus far of the allegory is that the general terms of our language are not "names" of the physical objects that we can see. They are actually names of things that are not visible to us, things that we can only grasp with the mind. This line of thinking is said to be described as "imagination," by Plato.
Once the prisoner is released, he is forced to look upon the fire and objects that once dictated his perception of reality, and he thus realizes these new images in front of him are now the accepted forms of reality. Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and how they would naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they have always seen as a pleasant and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief." The comfort of the aforementioned perceived, and the fear of the unrecognized outside world would result in the prisoner being forced to climb the steep ascent of the cave and step outside into the bright sun.
Once the prisoner climbs out of the cave and is fully immersed in the sun's rays, Socrates continues to explain the prisoner's bewilderment, fear, and blindness to the objects he was now being told were real. The natural reaction of the prisoner would be to recognize shadows and reflections. After his eyes adjust to the sunlight, he begins to see items and people in their own existence, outside of any medium. This recognizes the cognitive stage of though. When the prisoner looks up to the sky and looks into the Sun, and recognizes it as the cause of all that is around him-he has perceived the "Form of the Good!" This point in the passage marks the climax, as the prisoner, whom not long ago was blind to the "Form of the Good" (as well as the basic Forms in general), now is aware of reality and truth. When this has occurred, the ultimate stage of thought has been achieved, and that is "understanding."
Plato (through the conversation of Socrates) then discusses the prisoner's newfound awareness of his own knowledge and understanding. He inquires, would the prisoner want to return to the formerly accepted reality of truth, or would his content only lie in following his newly understood perception of reality
Upon returning to the Cave, the prisoner would metaphorically (and literally) be entering a world of darkness yet again, and would be faced with the other unreleased prisoners. The other prisoners laugh at the released prisoner, and ridicule him for taking the useless ascent out of the cave in the first place. The others cannot understand something they have yet to experience, so it's up to this prisoner to represent leadership, for it is him alone who is conscious of goodness. It's at this point that Plato describes the philosopher kings who have recognized the Forms of Goodness as having a duty to be responsible leaders and to not feel contempt for those whom don't share his enlightenment.
The Allegory doesn't solely represent our own misconceptions of reality, but also Plato's vision of what a solid leader should be. The prisoner is expected to return to the cave and live amongst his former prisoners as someone whom can see better than all the rest, someone whom is now able to govern from truth and goodness. He is expected to care for his fellow citizens, "…you have been better and more thoroughly educated than those others and hence you are more capable of playing your part both as men of thought and as men of action." Upon realizing the Forms of Goodness, one assumes the responsibility of a qualified leader, and this presents the basis for Plato's arguments for what constitutes just leadership and a just society.
The "Allegory of the Cave" represents a complex model as to which we are to travel through our lives and understanding. The four stages of thought combined with the progress of human development represent our own path to complete awareness in which the most virtuous and distinguished will reach, and upon doing so shall lead the public. The story as told by Socrates presents a unique look at the way in which reality plays such an important part in our own existence, and how one understands it can be used as a qualification for leadership and government.
Plato's Allegory of the Cave is used to show how one would rise from simple illusion to being philosophically illuminated.
Plato's allegory also gives some examples of the difficulties that the are incurred. I fully agree with Plato's allegory and will be explaining why I feel this way towards his allegory. I will also examine three symbols from the allegory after shortly explaining the allegory of the cave itself. I will also use an experience from my own life to help show how the allegory of the cave can be directly represented in every day life and how the symbols I have examined, while not being exact, are still present.
In the cave there are prisoners. These prisoners cannot move because they are restrained by chains. The only thing that they can see is a wall that illuminated by a great light. This light is actually a fire behind them, which has a low sitting wall in between itself and the prisoners. As men walk below the wall holding up objects made out of every type of materials and in all sorts of shapes, the shadows of these shapes are placed on the wall in front of the prisoners.
The low wall serves as a sort of "stage" or "blind" that keeps the men hidden and allows only the shadows to be illuminated onto the wall for the prisoners. The prisoners have known nothing other than the cave and its wall of shadows. While these prisoners have been watching the wall of shadows they have been able to hear the low talking of the men passing by the low wall. Knowing no better they have associated the noises to the shadows. To the prisoners the truth is only the wall and its shadows. At one point a teacher releases one of the prisoners and lets him up to show him his surroundings of the cave. When the prisoner looks around at the actual objects that create the shadows he is rather confused, and feels that the shadows are the truer of the objects because those are the things he has always known. The teacher then lead the prisoner up to the surface and out of the cave. When the teacher and the prisoner reach the world the prisoner is held fast until the pain of the light and confusion are overcome by his understanding of these visions. The prisoner would then first see the shadows, but then slowly he would see all things in their reality. As he starts to see the objects of physical reality he would soon see his reflection in water, the stars and moon in the sky and the sun hanging in their places. This will lead the man who was once a prisoner to contemplate many things, but he will eventually contemplate himself.
No sooner would the prisoner start to think about himself then he would begin to think about his fellow prisoner still in the cave, and he would feel pity for them. For his fellow prisoners are still believing what they see, and what he once thought as well, as being reality. Meanwhile those in the cave have a reward system that will give a crown to the prisoner who recognizes and remembers the shadows the best. The man who was once a prisoner would no longer envy for this crown, since he now knows the simplicity and sad truth to the physical cave. The former prisoner would rather suffer than live a life under the false truths of the cave.
The former prisoner ventures down to his fellow prisoners to help enlighten them as to the nature of things as they truly are. When the former prisoner would speak of these things to the prisoners they would think him mad and laugh outright at him. The prisoners would ridicule the former prisoner, and if he would be caught trying to release one of the prisoners, they would put him to death for trying to release one of them.
☼☼☼☼☼
In Plato's allegory of the cave a very large component to the reality of the cave are the chains. In the allegory of the cave these chains keep the prisoners from escaping and finding the truth that is the outside world. The chains that restrain the prisoners, while real to the prisoners in the cave, are no more real than the shadows are. The importance of chains is that they restrain the prisoners, whether the chains are actual metal or simply mental chains does not matter for both restrain their prisoner from the truth.
Another reality of the cave is the shadows themselves. The prisoners know only the shadows and to the prisoners these shadows are the truth. The prisoners know nothing outside of the shadows and the noises to which their lives have been secluded to. Just as the truth of the shadows is that they are not physical but only images, the physical outside world of objects is also bound to the senses. After a while the freed prisoner starts to contemplate himself, this contemplation is the true freedom that Plato's allegory of the cave speaks of. The enlightenment of thinking philosophically is the base issue for the allegory of the cave. The shadows that are the prisoners only truth, are actually the darkness that encompasses those not enlightened to thinking philosophically. The prisoners believe the shadows to be the only truth, the shadows therefore represent the darkness that keeps the prisoners from thinking philosophically about anything since the truth as they know it is directly in front of them.
The third symbolic object I believe to be largely important is the crown that is given to the prisoner with the best memory or recognition of the shadows. This crown is a privilege to those in the cave, yet to the freed prisoner the crown has no significance or importance. This crown is given to the prisoners by the same men that carry the objects back and forth to create the shadows. This crown reinforces the prisoners way of life to not think beyond the level that will get them the prize of the crown. I see the crown as a representation of man's physical possessions. Sometimes these possessions make people think that as long as they think or do enough to obtain that physical possession then why do more. The crown in Plato's cave while being a physical envied prize, it is truly an object that really only limits the prisoners mental progression.
In a similar development from imprisonment to freedom I came to understand that my religious upbringing was in its own way keeping me prisoner.
In my personal journey I too had chains but they were not physical. They were mental and habitual
.
Plato's allegory of the cave is an important teaching tool of the imprisonment of the philosophical mind. The allegory of the cave has three symbols that I believe to be hugely important, while there are many, these three of the chains,shadows, and the crown are the core of the allegory of the cave. The chain that restrains the prisoner, the shadows that keep the prisoners mind in the darkness, and the crown that means nothing except to the prisoners who know nothing outside of the cave. While my own journey is different from the cave in certain ways it also parallels the allegory of the cave in its religious restraint and thinking outside of institutional teachings. This journey allowed me to alter my contemplation about the bigger picture of religion for my own spiritual health.
As SOCRATES is describing the cave and the situation of the prisoners, he conveys the point that the prisoners would be inherently mistaken as to what is reality. Because we as readers know that the puppeteers behind them are using wooden and iron objects to liken the shadows to reality based items and people, the prisoners (unable to turn their heads) would know nothing else but the shadows, and perceive this as their own reality. This is an important development to the story because it shows us that what we perceive as real from birth is completely false based on our imperfect interpretations of reality and Goodness. The general point thus far of the allegory is that the general terms of our language are not "names" of the physical objects that we can see. They are actually names of things that are not visible to us, things that we can only grasp with the mind. This line of thinking is said to be described as "imagination," by Plato.
Once the prisoner is released, he is forced to look upon the fire and objects that once dictated his perception of reality, and he thus realizes these new images in front of him are now the accepted forms of reality. Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and how they would naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they have always seen as a pleasant and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief." The comfort of the aforementioned perceived, and the fear of the unrecognized outside world would result in the prisoner being forced to climb the steep ascent of the cave and step outside into the bright sun.
Once the prisoner climbs out of the cave and is fully immersed in the sun's rays, Socrates continues to explain the prisoner's bewilderment, fear, and blindness to the objects he was now being told were real. The natural reaction of the prisoner would be to recognize shadows and reflections. After his eyes adjust to the sunlight, he begins to see items and people in their own existence, outside of any medium. This recognizes the cognitive stage of though. When the prisoner looks up to the sky and looks into the Sun, and recognizes it as the cause of all that is around him-he has perceived the "Form of the Good!" This point in the passage marks the climax, as the prisoner, whom not long ago was blind to the "Form of the Good" (as well as the basic Forms in general), now is aware of reality and truth. When this has occurred, the ultimate stage of thought has been achieved, and that is "understanding."
Plato (through the conversation of Socrates) then discusses the prisoner's newfound awareness of his own knowledge and understanding. He inquires, would the prisoner want to return to the formerly accepted reality of truth, or would his content only lie in following his newly understood perception of reality
Upon returning to the Cave, the prisoner would metaphorically (and literally) be entering a world of darkness yet again, and would be faced with the other unreleased prisoners. The other prisoners laugh at the released prisoner, and ridicule him for taking the useless ascent out of the cave in the first place. The others cannot understand something they have yet to experience, so it's up to this prisoner to represent leadership, for it is him alone who is conscious of goodness. It's at this point that Plato describes the philosopher kings who have recognized the Forms of Goodness as having a duty to be responsible leaders and to not feel contempt for those whom don't share his enlightenment.
The Allegory doesn't solely represent our own misconceptions of reality, but also Plato's vision of what a solid leader should be. The prisoner is expected to return to the cave and live amongst his former prisoners as someone whom can see better than all the rest, someone whom is now able to govern from truth and goodness. He is expected to care for his fellow citizens, "…you have been better and more thoroughly educated than those others and hence you are more capable of playing your part both as men of thought and as men of action." Upon realizing the Forms of Goodness, one assumes the responsibility of a qualified leader, and this presents the basis for Plato's arguments for what constitutes just leadership and a just society.
The "Allegory of the Cave" represents a complex model as to which we are to travel through our lives and understanding. The four stages of thought combined with the progress of human development represent our own path to complete awareness in which the most virtuous and distinguished will reach, and upon doing so shall lead the public. The story as told by Socrates presents a unique look at the way in which reality plays such an important part in our own existence, and how one understands it can be used as a qualification for leadership and government.