In Book 7 of Plato’s “Republic” readers are presented with the allegory of the cave in which Socrates extensively describes the human element of education and the lack there of it. Socrates using metaphors and analogies explains how someone can be transformed from a realm of undetected ignorance to a domain of greater knowledge. The cave allegory is constructed to represent the plight all men face in the search for the truth and justice among lands full of unwise and unjust people. The very components described in the cave itself help readers understand the incorporated significance Socrates is alluding to in respects of Greek Philosophy and the city in speech, the topic most of the Republic consist of.
At the beginning of book 7 Socrates, …show more content…
Amidst this state of pain and confusion Socrates, ask what would occur if someone explained to the cave dweller that all of which he knew from the shadows was rubbish and the objects he vaguely saw now was the real world. According to Socrates, even if the objects which cast shadows in the fire were pointed out to the man “he would be at a loss and believe the thing he’d seen before were truer than the one pointed out to him now” (514 d12-14). Much like the men of the city the truth, even when presented to the newly awaken spirits of men would be so foreign and unknown to them that they would resist in accepting the truth and rather believe in the unjust. For this reason, Socrates states that the man must be forcibly dragged from the cave into the light of the sun where he would become temporarily blind. The new truths presented to the men of the cave and the city Socrates speaks of would be so overwhelming to the men that they would at first be blinded by their attempts to absorb this knowledge and be forced to lay in pain, as their eyes grew accustomed to their
At the beginning of book 7 Socrates, …show more content…
Amidst this state of pain and confusion Socrates, ask what would occur if someone explained to the cave dweller that all of which he knew from the shadows was rubbish and the objects he vaguely saw now was the real world. According to Socrates, even if the objects which cast shadows in the fire were pointed out to the man “he would be at a loss and believe the thing he’d seen before were truer than the one pointed out to him now” (514 d12-14). Much like the men of the city the truth, even when presented to the newly awaken spirits of men would be so foreign and unknown to them that they would resist in accepting the truth and rather believe in the unjust. For this reason, Socrates states that the man must be forcibly dragged from the cave into the light of the sun where he would become temporarily blind. The new truths presented to the men of the cave and the city Socrates speaks of would be so overwhelming to the men that they would at first be blinded by their attempts to absorb this knowledge and be forced to lay in pain, as their eyes grew accustomed to their