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The Prisoners In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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Plato was a philosopher in ancient Greece and a student of Socrates. He wrote a book titled The Republic which was fundamentally a Socratic dialogue analyzing what it means to be a just man. The allegory of the cave was a section of this book in which Plato described a cave full of prisoners that were chained to a wall and were only able to see the shadows and projections on the wall of the cave from a nearby fire. One day a prisoner was freed. When he first left the cave he was blinded by the sun for a moment until his eyes adjusted. Soon he discovered that what he thought was real in the shadows was all false and that there is a real world out there. He tries to go back and tell the others but they do not listen and choose to remain chained …show more content…
While the definition of the good life is subjective, I believe that in order to live this life it is absolutely necessary that one is a productive member of society and that includes being able to think critically about everything. There is a reason why the prisoner who was freed goes back to help the others see the light. He saw the truth that what they were seeing was not real and he wanted to share his knowledge with the others. It is important to distinguish between being content with one’s life and living the good life. The prisoners in Plato’s allegory are happy staring at a wall of shadows, but at the end of the day that does not achieve anything for them. They are simply sucked into this world of lies so any idea that interferes with this, such as leaving their cave, causes them discomfort thus they choose to stay. Living the good life on the other hand means living life to its fullest potential and one cannot do this without knowing the …show more content…
The cave offers comfortability and safety and if a person is happy there, then they are living their version of the good life. However, while ignorance might be bliss, a greater bliss comes from critical thinking. Throughout history there have been a plethora of instances in which those who think outside the box and leave the cave are able to come up with new ideas and inventions that make human life better. For example, the Wright brothers lived in a time when everyone thought that flying was crazy. They were the prisoners in the cave who were believing false shadows. The Wright brothers were able to create a machine that flies and proved everyone wrong. By employing the use of critical thought they were able to free themselves from the cave and invent something that would change the world and make life so much better for everyone today. One cannot truly live a good life in the cave because there are unlimited possibilities of how much better their life could be outside of the

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