Plato Of The Cave Analysis

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This excerpt from The Republic of Plato is a conversation which takes place between Glaucon and Socrates. Socrates begins by telling Glaucon a story. This story is meant to be a metaphor of their society’s nature of education, and also their want for education. Socrates tells Glaucon to imagine human beings as living in an underground cave with a long entrance, open to light across the width of the underground cave. The people in the cave have been there since their early childhood, with their legs and necks bonded, so they could only look in front of them. The light in the cave is from a fire above and behind them. There is a road to this fire, and along the road is a wall. The wall is built like the puppet handlers, and set in front …show more content…
A point which I took out of what Socrates was saying in his metaphor was how easily people are bound up, just like the people in the cave, and create their own reality just on what is physically seen. The people in the cave didn’t question where the shadows came from, nor did they question whether there was any kind of life outside of the cave. And once one of the humans in the cave was told about everything he knew inside of the cave, and the fact of how it was silly nonsense, he became unhappy and angry. This is still true today. If you tell someone their reality, their knowledge of certain subjects, or even what they believe, they become angry. It doesn’t matter how nonsensical or unimportant it is, they still become angry. Even if they are shown the other side of an argument to their beliefs, they get mad. Why do they get so mad? I think it is because most people are taught certain beliefs while they are growing up, and just begin to believe it as an absolute truth. Now while what they were taught may actually be true, it is important for people to educate themselves on why the certain thing they have believed is actually true. If you believe one thing, a religion or anything of the like, it is imperative to know the other side of things. It also necessary to know arguments against one’s own beliefs in order to defend oneself against

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