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Similarities Between Socrates And The Allegory Of The Cave

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I believe the differences between Euthyphro and the prisoner are their abilities to accept their faults, being humble enough to reach the summit of knowledge, and a similarity between how important philosophic ideals are in their lives. These two stories involving Socrates deal with a premise of knowing what is true even though the truth is constantly debated. Socrates shares a key similarity with the prisoner as they can both be seen as philosophers as they try to enlighten others even though the others fight against it. Euthyphro shares a key similarity with the cave dwellers as they are both ignorant and stick to their ideals of what is true. The prisoner and Euthyphro are polar opposites and display the differences in Greek society. To …show more content…
This short story begins with Socrates talking to Glaucon, Plato’s brother. Socrates tells of a group of cave dwellers that have been chained, unable to move their necks and see various shadows against the walls that are in front of them. These shadows appear to be real and the cave dwellers are not aware of anything that is outside the cave. One day one of the dwellers is able to escape from the cave and see the outside world for the very first time. As he sees the sun for the first time it blinds him and causes him pain. As a reaction he looks to the shadows of any objects near him and relies on them to guide him in this new alien-like world. He eventually is able to see everything in this new world from the shinning sun to the trees surrounding him. As he stays longer he understands how the seasons work and how everything in front of him works. He eventually returns to the cave and tells his group of the things he has witnessed outside the cave. The cave dwellers would become deeply upset with the escaped prisoner and not believe him as Socrates states, “Men would say of him that he left and returned without his eyes and that it was better not even to think of leaving” (P.85). Socrates’s point in this quote is to say that the cave dwellers view the escaped prisoner with such hostility that it would be much better to stay in the isolated dark cave then to venture to the outside world. Socrates continues by pointing out the allegories in his story by saying, “The cave is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misunderstand me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the world of Forms” (P.85). What Socrates is pointing out here is that the world of the cave is world of sight that we all live in and the light of the fire is the sun, but if you can escape the cave then you would ascent into a world of higher being. He finishes by stating

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