Analyzing The Allegory Of Myth Of The Cave By Neil Turn Bull

Improved Essays
Philosophy is the study of human nature, knowledge, on what is real and the study of real being. The meaning of philosophy comes from the “two ancient Greek words; ‘philo’, meaning to love’ and ‘sophia’, meaning ‘wisdom’” (Turnbull 2). Philosophy is the search for wisdom and an act of thought. Philosophy can be correlated to the “way of life”, which is a form of thinking that can guide you to a “higher and better way”. In the book, “Get a Grip on Philosophy” by Neil Turnbull, Turnbull speaks about the Sophist and how they connect to the philistines and technocrats. In addition, to prove the ascent of knowledge one must look at the Allegory of the Myth of the Cave and understand Socrates and Plato’s effort to find what Turnbull would call the …show more content…
Plato wrote the Allegory of the Cave about the sophists and it explains the reasoning why they are stuck under the lower line of the divided line. The cave represents the world of nature and Socrates’ life. The purpose of the allegory was so that Plato can “illuminate the world through the rational light of his/her knowledge of the good (something that, like sunshine, he believed that we all desire” (Turnbull 66), however, the cave was not lite by sunlight but Plato wanted the sophist or an individual to ascent to the sunlight. Although the allegory is talking about how the bodies have to move from out the cave, Plato is really talking about how the mind has to ascent out the cave in order to see all things, the sun and the idea of the …show more content…
All the prisoners can see are shadows that are being “casted on the wall by mysterious unseen things moving [inside] of the cave” (Turnbull 66), they believe that these shadows are real things in the world which proves that the sophists are on the lower level of the divided line were all they have to work with mentally is images, imagination and illusion. The shadows represented the experiences that are taught to us in education, hoi poloi (common people) are stuck on this level of knowledge, this helps shows how education has a hold on the soul. Plato believed that it was the philosopher’s job to “liberate [the sophists] of these shadowy existence and escort them into the bright uplands of philosophical knowledge” (Turnbull 66). On the second level of the cave, the slaves are not chained anymore. They can see the fire which to them represented the sun and it warms them. The unchained slaves are the ones that are making the shadows and they have a glimpse of the true nature of reality. The lose slaves were trying to show the sophist (the chained slaves) that they did not know what they thought they knew. After a while the lose slaves realize that they are seeing things more real than the shadows that they thought were reality. They also realized that the shadows were made from the fire and statue. At this stage the

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Contrary to the first example, he poses another example of someone leaving the cave and the dark, and entering reality and light as an example of an ignorant prisoner who is being confronted with reality. Plato explains that for someone coming out of the cave, there is confusion due to the new experience of seeing light and facing reality. Equivalently, for someone going into the cave, it is still a whole new world and experience for them. The contrast of darkness to light and vice versa is an example of two different types of education and how our eyes have the ability to perceive the world differently due to one’s setting and environment. Throughout “The Allegory of the Cave”, Plato uses the cave and…

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I think that the main points illustrated by Plato's Allegory of the Cave are that people only know what they experience and only choose to accept what they have experienced, people who have knowledge have a responsibility to share it and that ignorance is bliss. The men trapped in the cave demonstrate how people will only believe what they have experienced by shunning the man who tries to tell them of the outside world. They aren't willing to accept that there is more to life than the wall and shadows in front of them. Plato believes that even the world we live in may just be another wall that is blocking us from seeing the truth.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Allegory of The Cave,” philosopher Plato explains to his student, Glaucon, that there are prisoners in a den tied up and have never been able to turn their bodies nor their heads to see what is behind them: a blazing fire. The prisoners can only see a wall and the shadows casted from the objects that pass along front of the fire (583). The shadows are the only truth the prisoners know since they have never been exposed to anything outside the cave. Plato further explains saying “To them... the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (584).…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The fictional story the Allegory of the Cave can be interpreted in many different ways in the modern world. The way which I will try to interpret the Allegory of the Cave is the following. The prisoners as the Greek intemperate are the iron man just as humanity in this generation. The puppeteers are the government. The shadows that the fire cast, which puppeteer's show in the walkway represents what the government wants to show the citizen or (the prisoners of society).…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave depicts a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon. Socrates starts by illustrating in this metaphor how our nature is enlightened or unenlightened. During their dialogue, Socrates presents to Glaucon a group of people that had been chained down from their necks and legs in a cave since their childhood. Socrates goes on explaining how these chains prevent the group of people from turning their heads. There is a burning fire behind them and they can only see shadows before them.…

    • 160 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave there are prisoners that have been tied down since birth. In this cave the prisoners are facing a wall in which they only see the shadows of what is…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave he shows us how his philosophy about freedom, education, and wisdom is depicted through a conversation between his brother Glaucon and his teacher Socrates. When Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave he creates this image of these cave-dwellers the have been imprisoned since birth. They do not have any knowledge of the outside world all they know is the wall that stands in front of them. Sadly the citizens of this cave are chained to the floor, unable to observe any of their surroundings . All they see are shadows and they are only able to these because “ Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets” (Plato).…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The allegory of the cave is meant to be a visual aid for Plato, through Socrates, to show how philosophers come to be from a common crowd, how they come to understand the forms, and how they should teach those who do not understand the forms and be the ones who rule over the city. A second way to view the allegory is as a description of how education begins even today. Plato starts off by comparing ignorance to living in a cave with limited knowledge, which makes sense when one thinks about how closed-minded a people of any population can be. A person like this does not give any thought to things outside of his or her own knowledge and never expands on what he or she may know, just like the prisoners in the cave and how they accepted what they were seeing as the truth. This lifestyle is represented by the chains holding prisoners against the wall, only able to see shadows of…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the story, we suppose that a group of men are chained, as they have been since birth, in such a way as they are unable to see anything but that which is before them. These men see the reflection of many objects…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the "Allegory of the Cave," Plato is telling the story of his teacher Socrates in discussion with Glaucon a fellow philosopher. They are discussing a hypothetical situation. There is a group of prisoners who are held captive in the cave chained by the neck and feet. They cannot turn their head or move their bodies. All they can see are images in front of them and the glowing in the back of them from the side.…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The prisoners have been in the cave, chained up since they were born and don't understand that there is a whole world out there. Due to this lack of knowledge “to them… the truth [is] literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (Plato 1). They are too ignorant to understand the truth because they have never been exposed to anything different and have never tried anything new. The prisoners don't know that there is a truth, all they know is the shadows, but not the story behind the shadows and why they are there. The concept is very similar in The Matrix.…

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This is not an easy process for the prisoner because they have been in the dark their whole life. They are unable to adjust to the sunlight easily and some simply decided to go back into the darkness because it is too difficult. When out of the cave the prisoner understands knowledge, that the objects he sees have dimension. They have a mathematical form to them. The sun is helping him to understand how shadows and reflections are created and slowly understanding the forms, which hold all knowing.…

    • 1762 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alisha Saxena Philosopher, Plato, in his published work, Allegory of the Cave, describes a dialogue with Glaucon about the importance of truth and human nature. This in depth discussion about reality is expanded on throughout Plato’s book, The Republic. Plato uses The Republic in order to convey how morality and virtue is of utmost importance. Plato’s purpose of Allegory of the Cave is to communicate that our perceptions of the truth are limited, and how the truth might not always be what is predicted or imagined. He further supports this purpose by using extended metaphors, intense, connotative diction, and an eloquent, questioning tone.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the passage, we can appreciate numerous symbolisms that have an interpretation and give a sense to the story. First, the cave is demonstrated to be a sensitive world in which prisoners live deceived and confident that their knowledge about things is reliable. Next, prisoners being ignorant towards outside knowledge. Then, chains representing the body; keeping us tied to ignorance. Also, shadows are prejudices speculations and distorted imagens of reality.…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Plato’s “ Allegory of the Cave,” Plato describes the cave as very dark with chained prisoners in front of a fire observing shadow of things. The shadows are the only “reality” they know. Outside the cave, there is “light” and the “truth”. A prisoner in the cave wanted freedom. But the prisoners could not get out.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics