...Allegory of the Cave The allegory of the cave revolves around a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon, who was Socrates’ student (Pearcy). Plato designed “Allegory of the Cave” as a theory to concentrate on human perception (Trumpeter). Plato refers to knowledge being acquired by the senses as an opinion, but that real knowledge is attained by philosophical reasoning. Plato describes the difference between people who can not differentiate between sensory knowledge to reach the truth and people that actually see the truth. In order for Plato to explain his theory of “Allegory of the Cave” he divides it into five main points: the cave, the shadows, the game, the escape, and the return. In this paper, I will explain and decipher all five...
Words: 1048 - Pages: 5
...Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were important philosophers in classical Greece (Matthews, Noble, Platt, 2014). Plato was one of Socrates followers. Plato was recognized for his most famous doctrine known as the Doctrine of Forms, even though there was never a clear explanation for its existence; but his student Aristotle did offer various arguments for it. Plato knew that his doctrine never made sense; however, he created an analogy and called it the Allegory of the Cave which supports what he stood for in regard to common sense as well as embodying his doctrine. Socrates was an intelligent man, who loved philosophy and challenging the people who he lived around. His main goal was to achieve understanding. The citizens were not actually fond of Socrates because he made them feel as if they did not know anything. He was happy to prove others wrong, in which made him...
Words: 508 - Pages: 3
...Candelaria Philosophy Midterm Paper What does the allegory of the cave suggest about the nature of education? The allegory of the cave is supposed to be a metaphor for the world we are living in. That finding this truth or overall good is how people will be able to gain the most knowledge. Socrates is explaining to his student, Glaucon, how he believes it’s our own ignorance of goodness and truth that will prevent a man from gaining this nature of education. What Socrates fails to mention in my own opinion is how this allegory supports a role in the nature of education. In my essay I want to go over what my interpretations are of this allegory and how it’s structured to represent our learning throughout our life. This will lead to my argument explaining how irrelevant this metaphor is simply because it is an allegory. For my second argument I will mention how I disagree with Socrates views on the nature of our education. For the last part of my argument, I want to go over what I believe is also involved with the nature of our education, not being just the “Good”. I want to briefly go over what exactly this allegory represents to me. By establishing my understanding towards what the allegory means, I can hopefully strengthen my future points that I am making. It is obvious that Plato structured this allegory to represent the divided line that separates what we know from our senses and our mind. The allegory isn’t just four stages of the divided line but also four...
Words: 1756 - Pages: 8
...Characters from Platos’ Apology and Allegory of the Cave and Voltaire’s Story of a Good Brahmin will be compared and contrasted in this composition. In addition, a view into the attitudes of these characters reveals our pursuit and frustration while seeking truth. Ultimately, these stories provide an introspect to who we are individually and challenges within our society. The levels of interest, complexity, and diversity these stories afford are similar to good advise from a close friend. In short, much was learned from the musings of this composition, and I hope others encounter a similar revelations. Keywords: Plato, Socrates, Voltaire, philosophy, compare, contrast A good allegory is a precious gift. Voltaire and Plato present stories...
Words: 815 - Pages: 4
...Lesson 3: Greek Wisdom of Man The Greek Triumvirate The Greek Triumvirate of philosophy is known for having a chain of teacher-student relationship. Socrates was the teacher of Plato; Plato was the teacher of Aristotle; and Aristotle was the teacher of one of history’s greatest conqueror – Alexander, the Great. The Greek Triumvirate & the Three Oriental Sages * Although the teachings of the Three Oriental Sages and the Greek Triumvirate are dissimilar, they however, have a resembling view on the soul of man. * The Oriental sages and the Greek triumvirate believed that man’s soul pre-existed his body. * The Greek triumvirate believes that man, in his original and ideal existence as a soul or a « pure mind », knew all things by direct intuition and had all knowledge stored in his mind. However, when man was banished into his world of sense, man blurred out and forgot almost everything he ever knew. * The Greek triumvirate posited that the present problems of man was caused by ignorance or lack of knowledge and that the only way for man to solve these problems is by recalling all his previous knowledge. * However, while they believe in the vitalityt of looking into one’s self as a method to resolve man’s problem, there are still major differences when it comes to the ‘specifics’ of their ideologies. Socrates * He was born in Athens circa 469 B.C. and died in 399 B.C. * He is known as one of mankind’s greatest teachers. * During his times,...
Words: 1611 - Pages: 7
...Theory of the Forms and the Sensible World This paper will discuss the relationship between the knowledge of the forms and opinion about the sensible world. After describing the sensible world, Socrates brings up a new concept about how this world should be ruled. This paper will argue that because philosophy kings have knowledge about the forms they are better rulers of the sensible world, rather than sight-lovers. This paper is divided into two phases, each showing how Socrates has used the theory of the forms. Philosopher Kings and Sight Lovers: The idea of philosophy kings first comes up in Book V of the Republic at 473d. Socrates claims that the sensible world can only exist once kings, or those who rule practice philosophy. As Socrates is saying this, he himself realizes how his statement is somewhat radical. This radical claim by Socrates leads him to distinguish the difference between philosophy kings and sight lovers using the theory of the forms. At 476b (Rep. V), Socrates says that the lovers of sights only like beautiful characteristics such as shapes and sounds. Socrates argues that these individuals don’t see the underlying beauty. Although not explicitly mentioned, at this point, Socrates is using the theory of forms to distinguish philosophers and sight lovers. For sight-lovers, beauty is on a comparative basis; say for example “A” has beautiful features once it is observed alone. Once we compare “A” with all things beautiful, it may not posses the beauty it once...
Words: 1478 - Pages: 6
...ts 4. What is your understanding of Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’? Plato’s Allegory of the Cave illustrates the long and arduous journey that is undertaken on the road to true enlightenment. The influence of Socrates is prevalent throughout the text. Socrates, who was Plato’s mentor, was ‘committed to a life that cultivated wisdom’. (Lecture Notes) The pursuit of Truth (The Allegory of the Cave) is one way in which we become wise. I agree with the Allegory to a certain extent. I do believe that people can have a fear of the unknown and can therefore remain static or ignorant as it were. However, I also believe that many people, and in particular children, are naturally inclined to explore and question and therefore further their knowledge, which is at odds with the prisoner as presented to us in the Cave. The first thing that must be done when discussing Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is to ask ourselves what it represents. Firstly, it’s important to point out that it is told by Plato in the context of education. The Allegory is a metaphor for the journey people must take on the road to true enlightenment or in order to gain true knowledge. He utilises the Allegory as a way to explain his theory of forms and his differing views of illusion and reality. The prisoners are living in a world in which they ‘can only look straight ahead of them and can’t turn their heads’. (Plato, 1955, p.256) In this sense, we see what we are told to see and we believe/accept it without ever questioning...
Words: 833 - Pages: 4
...In Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave," Socrates tells an allegory of the hardship of understanding reality. Socrates compares a prisoner of an underground cave who is exploring a new world he never knew of to people who are trying to find a place of wisdom in reality. According to Socrates, most people tend to rely on their senses too much and believe the world as it is appeared to our sight. In order to free our souls from this mental prison, Socrates suggests that we should go through a phase that does not only prepare ourselves for the real world but also prevent us from heading to the wrong direction to seek the truth - education. In conclusion, Socrates believes those who have reached a higher level of knowledge and wisdom should bear a responsibility to lead the community and improve it because they are blessed with better education and are able to enjoy a different reward than the power to control others like most politicians do. Two thousand years after Plato has written down the allegory, it is amazing how we can still relate it to our everyday lives. As Plato wrote in "The Allegory of the Cave," education is a very important phase that leads us to wisdom and helps us to get accustomed to the real world with less difficulty. Apparently, this theory has proven to be correct for the past two thousand years. Until today, those of higher wisdoms are mostly people who have mastered a thorough and solid education; and they certainly have become the leaders of the...
Words: 360 - Pages: 2
...Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Plato’s allegory of the cave is a famous piece derived from his book the Republic. The cave is famed to be a conversation between Socrates, Plato’s respected mentor, and another one of Socrates’ followers, Glaucon. Additionally, Plato’s allegory is meant to be a depiction of the effects of education on society and Plato expresses his abhorrence with how society has ultimately ostracized philosophers out of ignorance of the philosopher’s teachings. The philosopher’s teachings are attempts to enlighten the prisoners who are bound by chains so they can vicariously experience the true good in the world. Socrates, in this conversation with Glaucon, paints a picture describing a world where people are born as chained prisoners that are forced to stare at a cave wall their entire life. Moreover, there is a fire shining behind them that reflects onto the cold stone wall. Behind the fire, guards pass holding artifacts that cast the statue shadows onto the wall and the prisoners play memorization games identifying these forms as “trees, men, and women”. However, one prisoner is freed and begins to look around the cave. For the first time, the prisoner sees the blazing fire and the actual artifacts that used to be only dim, memorized shadows. To the prisoner’s dismay, he is dragged out of the cave and into the scorching sun. He squirms and shrieks from the pain of the overwhelming light. Eventually, the torture fades as his eyes strengthen and he discovers...
Words: 713 - Pages: 3
...Renee Johnson Calumet College of St. Joseph ENG 103 SA 16 February 2015 “The Allegory of the Cave” In this pamphlet, philosophy is presented by Socrates, “The allegory of the cave” by Benjamin Jowett. Through this comparison, there is an image of learning effects on human mind. The thinker is moved by learning through stages on divided line, and the end takes him to a proper evolution. In the pamphlet, the dark scene is described by Socrates whereby, some people have never seen the light of the day because of staying in caves from birth. The darkness in this room bounds these people from looking at them or either side but only straight ahead. Looking up the wall, statues fill their eyes and are manipulated by a certain group of individuals who are lying out of the sight that is behind a partial wall (Socrates). This fire results to statues that have casted shadows on the wall where prisoners are facing (Socrates). This results to the prisoner to believe the stories the shadows play out and see them as real things offered by the world. Socrates compares these prisoners as a symbol of the lowest stage on line-imagination (Socrates). The primary objective is to ensure that every man comes out of a cave. When the soul is directed towards the right desires, it depicts the aim of education. As Socrates says, it should aim at placing knowledge into the mind. As Socrates explains, the extension of the analogy between sight and mind, a wicked, intelligent man's vision can be...
Words: 271 - Pages: 2
...Book VII Summary: Book VII, 514a- 521d In Book VII, Socrates presents the most beautiful and famous metaphor in Western philosophy: the allegory of the cave. This metaphor is meant to illustrate the effects of education on the human soul. Education moves the philosopher through the stages on the divided line, and ultimately brings him to the Form of the Good. Socrates describes a dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing. The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about “men,” “women,” “trees,” or “horses,” they are referring to these shadows. These prisoners represent the lowest stage on the line—imagination. A prisoner is freed from his bonds, and is forced to look at the fire and at the statues themselves. After an initial period of pain and confusion because of direct exposure of his eyes to the light of the fire, the prisoner realizes that what he sees now are things...
Words: 3699 - Pages: 15
...The “Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato represents a stretched comparison that contrasts the way people differentiate between what’s reality and surrealism. The composition states that the opinions everyone has and or observes are flawed depictions of definitive forms, which then signifies the authenticity. Within the story, Plato inaugurates a cave. The prisoners are detained there by chains, forced to look onward to the cave’s front wall. Within the story there are two essential building blocks to it; the imaginary establishment of the prisoners, and the theoretical belief of that which the allegory was intended to represent, henceforth bestowing us with the allegory itself. The multifaceted imports professed from the cave itself are...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
...The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand...
Words: 4812 - Pages: 20
...The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand...
Words: 482 - Pages: 2
...Unlike his mentor Socrates, Plato was both a writer and a teacher. His writings are in the form of dialogues, with Socrates as the principal speaker. In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato described symbolically the predicament in which mankind finds itself and proposes a way of salvation. The Allegory presents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually; his idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves; his faith that the universe ultimately is good; his conviction that enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society, and that a good society must be one in which the truly wise (the Philosopher-King) are the rulers. The Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII of Plato's best-known work, The Republic, a lengthy dialogue on the nature of justice. Often regarded as a utopian blueprint, The Republic is dedicated toward a discussion of the education required of a Philosopher-King. The following selection is taken from the Benjamin Jowett translation (Vintage, 1991), pp. 253-261. As you read the Allegory, try to make a mental picture of the cave Plato describes. Better yet, why not draw a picture of it and refer...
Words: 284 - Pages: 2
