Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: Analysis
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave starts off as a conversation between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Plato’s mentor, Socrates. In the story, Socrates describes a group of people who have lived their lives chained in a cave, facing a blank wall. The group of people watch shadows that are projected onto the wall. Shadows that consist of objects passing through between the prisoners and a fire. Every day the people in the cave watch these shadows and have given them names, it has become their reality. The prisoners had created a game of guessing which shadow would appear next, if one was correct, the others would praise him as intelligent and clever. However, Plato suggests that since these shadows are not the truth, it would be silly to admire someone that actually does not know anything.
Eventually, one prisoner decides to break free from the chains and shackles, Plato relates the prisoner to that of a philosopher. He is freed from the cave and comes to understand the reality of the world, and that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all. He learns that …show more content…
It creates a powerful message when one looks deeper into the true meaning. Our society relates so well to this story, that it baffles me. How can we be so ignorant to not care about the harm that is going on around us? Everyone should read this piece of work by Plato, as it has so much meaning, especially to today’s generation. We are so consumed in our media that it becomes a rare moment when we look up to face what reality is. Reading this story and uncovering the deeper meaning has made me think about a lot of things that we are doing wrong. I enjoyed this work for multiple reasons, mostly because of how well I can relate to is based on what I’ve seen in society, and the power that the message conveys to me as a
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave starts off as a conversation between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Plato’s mentor, Socrates. In the story, Socrates describes a group of people who have lived their lives chained in a cave, facing a blank wall. The group of people watch shadows that are projected onto the wall. Shadows that consist of objects passing through between the prisoners and a fire. Every day the people in the cave watch these shadows and have given them names, it has become their reality. The prisoners had created a game of guessing which shadow would appear next, if one was correct, the others would praise him as intelligent and clever. However, Plato suggests that since these shadows are not the truth, it would be silly to admire someone that actually does not know anything.
Eventually, one prisoner decides to break free from the chains and shackles, Plato relates the prisoner to that of a philosopher. He is freed from the cave and comes to understand the reality of the world, and that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all. He learns that …show more content…
It creates a powerful message when one looks deeper into the true meaning. Our society relates so well to this story, that it baffles me. How can we be so ignorant to not care about the harm that is going on around us? Everyone should read this piece of work by Plato, as it has so much meaning, especially to today’s generation. We are so consumed in our media that it becomes a rare moment when we look up to face what reality is. Reading this story and uncovering the deeper meaning has made me think about a lot of things that we are doing wrong. I enjoyed this work for multiple reasons, mostly because of how well I can relate to is based on what I’ve seen in society, and the power that the message conveys to me as a