Socrates Persuasive Speech

Improved Essays
Show More
Socrates: Let me pose a situation to you, Pentheus; imagine there are people in a cave. These people have been there since childhood, with their bodies shackled so that they can only see that which is right in front of them. They are unable to turn their heads, and know no world except that which is in front of them.
Pentheus: I can imagine this, of course.
Socrates: Now imagine that there is a fire roaring behind them, and that this fire casts a light onto the wall of the cave in front of them. There are people carrying carving in front of the fire. This projects shadows in front of the people who are shackled.
Pentheus: So, they are seeing shadows. Right, continue.
Socrates: Will they not see the shadows on the walls as the actual beings …show more content…
Though
Socrates: Now suppose that one of the people was unchained and allowed to look around. What would that person say if someone told him that everything that he saw before was merely a shadow of what actually was, and that now he was able to see things for what they truly were. Would he not be unable to comprehend what he was being told and if he was shown the light of the fire his eyes would hurt and he would run back to what he knows? And if dragged out of the cave and faced with the sun he would be blinded. It would take him time to get used to seeing things in the light and then he would be able to look at the …show more content…
Would he not find the prizes they give to be meaningless in comparison to what he now knows?
Socrates: But those prizes held meaning in the life he left, which was his reality.
Pentheus: What he saw became greater, therefore his world became greater. The world he knows now is so much larger than that of the cave. I find you more and more a fool. This is a topic on which we will never agree. Go on, Socrates.
Socrates: And, if he was to go back down into the cave and sit where he sat before wouldn’t his eyes be filled with darkness? The people who had never left the cave would ridicule him for not being able to see what they do. Wouldn’t his time spent in the sun, only to come back down to the cave and have his vision ruined, not be worth it?
Pentheus: Surely it would still be worth it, for he is wiser now and knows well beyond the extent of his former life in the cave.
Socrates: No, Pentheus, it would not be worth it. They can no longer see the world the way that they did before. They’ve been corrupted by the knowledge of a reality outside of their own. Would they not then kill the person who leads them to the sun?
Pentheus: They might. I’m growing frustrated, Socrates. What point are you trying to

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Similarities Between Socrates And The Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1730 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Similarities Between Socrates And The Allegory Of The Cave

    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…

    • 1730 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Langer, Pinker, Roberts Summary
    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Langer, Pinker, Roberts Summary

    In my opinion, Plato is pointing out the relationship between shadows, the sunlit world and the relationship between knowledge and reality. The shadows in the cave are the only things that the prisoners had ever experienced,…

    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Republic Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Republic Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    The preface of The Republic of Plato states that “One must look at the microcosm of the drama just as one would look at the macrocosm of the world which it represents.” This statement asserts the significance of the dramatic details found within the text, which not only help to further Plato’s argument, but are also crucial to our understanding of the text as a whole. At the climax of The Republic of Plato lies one of philosophy’s most prominent and beautiful images, the Allegory of the Cave. Within the seventh book of the text, Plato conveys Socrates’s narration about an image of a cave, and throughout this historic and famous image, there are a plethora of the aforementioned dramatic details included. Particularly, some of the details that contribute most to the reader’s understanding of the text include the repetition of the phrase “by Zeus” by Glaucon, the inclusion of mainly dialogue and very little action in this section, the conversation between Glaucon and Socrates on how the…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Similarities Between Othello And The Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Similarities Between Othello And The Allegory Of The Cave

    In the dialogue, Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave where the people as to prisoners in that cave have shackles on their legs, around their necks so that they don’t move. The prisoners have been in this cave with chains tied since their childhood. All they can see is the shadows on the wall in front of their eyes by the fire glazing behind them with the objects shown in front of the fire creates shadows on the wall. Therefore, they only see what’s shown to them on that wall in front of them. Hence, they are blinded by what they see and do not question it.…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Socrates And Glaucon In The Allegory Of The Cave
    • 160 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Socrates And Glaucon In The Allegory Of The Cave

    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
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Compare And Contrast The Allegory Of The Cave And Fahrenheit 451
    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Compare And Contrast The Allegory Of The Cave And Fahrenheit 451

    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
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Plato's Apology: When A Five Year Old Asks Why
    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Plato's Apology: When A Five Year Old Asks Why

    Socrates believed that if he was…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Modern Day Socrates Analysis
    • 2010 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Modern Day Socrates Analysis

    Similarly, Socrates asserts this idea in the Allegory of the Cave, when he declares…

    • 2010 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Education In Plato's Republic
    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Education In Plato's Republic

    Through this, he shows that teachers should not force ideas upon students but rather lead students to form their own ideas. Socrates says that “no free person should learn anything like a slave” because “nothing taught by force stays in the soul” (536e). So instead of telling his peers the answers to the questions he asks and forcing information on to them, Socrates teaches them through examples. The allegory of the cave described in book VII is used as a concrete way for Socrates to portray his intangible ideas of the visible and intelligible realm (517b). He also uses this allegory to reiterate that “education isn’t what some people declare it to be, namely, putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes” which is seen when the enlightened prisoner feels obligated to go back and share with his friends what he has learned.…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Comparing The Cave, The Symposium, And The Phaedrus, By Plato
    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing The Cave, The Symposium, And The Phaedrus, By Plato

    As we already know in the lecture allegory of the cave, Socrates show us the way people illustrate the effects of education regarding the human soul. Where the philosopher being educated in different stages and forms. I remember when Socrates was describing how groups of people were living in a deep cave where they didn’t have access to the sunlight at all, since birth. They weren’t able to recognize each other; all they could see was the shadow of other…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Plato Book 7
    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Plato Book 7

    Because the light from the sun is so bright, it’s too much to focus on all the different things, so he zones in on the shadows. He realizes that the shadows are a reflection of different objects. This leads the conclusion that the sun is something good and starts the bases of Plato’s talk about education. The man that is released from his bonds is seen as the philosopher-king because he knows about the “Form of the Good”. Then the philosophy-king tries to bring more people out of the cave to see all that he has seen from this new world.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Theory Of Knowledge In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Theory Of Knowledge In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    Plato’s Allegory of the cave accounts for his theory of knowledge by showing how leaving ignorance turns perception into true belief. Plato’s theory of knowledge explains that perceptions of things are like the shadows on the cave wall and while the prisoners know a name for the thing, what they see is not true belief. The prisoners however know the names of the perceived things and while their reality is a façade, their soul knows of forms. I will explain how the darkness is ignorance, shadows are perception in the material world, how the prisoners had knowledge to begin with, and how they account for Plato’s epistemology.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Role Of Suffering In The Allegory Of The Cave, By Plato
    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Role Of Suffering In The Allegory Of The Cave, By Plato

    In The Allegory of the Cave, Plato contends that there is a lower and higher level of understanding. We have the capacity to transcend the lower level of understanding and seek the truth only if we escape the darkness. However, humans are often confused of their own limitations to seeking eternal truth. Additionally, Plato believes that ignorance is the greatest evil, and in order to be morally good, one must obtain a clear knowledge of the world. He explains how he “would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner;” in the darkness (Plato 440).…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Literary Analysis Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Literary Analysis Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    Allegory of the Cave” is a philosophical parable or analogy from Plato’s The Republic, written around 380 BC. Exploring themes of knowledge, perception, and the importance of education, it takes the form of a discussion between Plato’s brother, Glaucon, and his teacher and mentor, Socrates. Although this dialogue was almost certainly scripted by Plato, it is not clear whether the idea itself is Plato’s own or his record of Socrates’s thoughts. The allegory begins with Plato’s Socrates describing a group of humans held in a deep, dark cave. They have been imprisoned there since childhood, their necks and legs bound so they cannot turn to see themselves, each other, or the rest of the cave.…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of The Cave By Plato
    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Analysis Of The Cave By Plato

    It will not be natural when we first experience this, rightly compared to looking at a bright light for the first time, but over time our vision will not only accept it but also begin to indulge in it with joy. But this not the end of the analogy. Socrates continues on with his analogy and says that if anyone were to be able to escape the prison of the cave and see the world with the bright sun and everything around it that he would want to return to his friends in the cave and show them this new world around him, but if they can’t get to it and are only used to the shadows on the wall of the cave then they will think that he is merely a dreamer and is not thinking rationally, much like how people of the world thought of Plato and his ideas of the knowledge of the world is up in the heavens and not down here on…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings