You might also like to read about Plato’s Theory of Forms. If you would like to purchase ‘The Republic’ by Plato, click here! It is always recommended that you read the original text by Plato to reach the top grades. The other prisoners reaction to the escapee returning represents that people are scared of knowing philosophical truths and do not trust philosophers.His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey when finding truth and wisdom.The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge.The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside of the senses.Plato is demonstrating that this master does not actually know any truth, and suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this. The Game represents how people believe that one person can be a ‘master’ when they have knowledge of the empirical world.In Plato’s opinion you are a ‘pleb’ if you believe this (their insult for those who are not Philosophers)! If you believe that what you see should be taken as truth, then you are merely seeing a shadow of the truth. The Shadows represent the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence ensures knowledge.The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding. In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world – empirical evidence.
You can then use these to think about criticisms and then to form your own opinion. In essays and exams, whoever is marking it expects you to have a deeper understanding of the meaning of the theory. The Allegory of the cave by Plato should not be taken at face value. ‘ The Allegory of The Cave’ by Plato – The Meaning
The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings.He see’s that his former life, and the guessing game they played is useless.He begins to understand his new world, and sees that the Sun is the source of life and goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning.As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former view of reality was wrong.He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be real.One of the prisoners then escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave.If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as clever and say that he were a master of nature.Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which shadow would appear next.If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that the shadows of objects were ‘real.When people walk along the walkway, you can see shadows of the objects they are carrying cast on to the wall.You cannot look at anything behind or to the side of you – you must look at the wall in front of you. So, imagine that you are one of the prisoners.People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their head including animals, plants, wood and stone.Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway.These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the cave.The prisoners are tied to some rocks, their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that they cannot look at anything but the stonewall in front of them. Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners.In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth and people who really do see the truth.
Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is no more than opinion and that, in order to have real knowledge, we must gain it through philosophical reasoning. The ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ is a theory put forward by Plato, concerning human perception.
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