The Picture Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Looking at the picture of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I can notice several things right away. The picture shows a cave that resembles a grave. People are living in the cave and there is an obvious contrast to the person and the world outside the cave. Life for those people in the cave looks dismal, pathetic and sad. It makes me have questions about them, like what happened? A small part of the picture shows a better situation. The allegory describes the people in the cave to be like prisoners, who since childhood, can’t move or turn their heads to see around them. The information that they have and that they think is true, is coming from the shadows of a puppet show. Plato says that their reality was nothing but the shadows and it …show more content…
The Allegory conveys the idea that philosophy, the study of ideas about knowledge and truth, is an activity that results in freedom and autonomy in several ways. The Allegory begins with a description of men living as prisoners in a cave. It describes the men being restricted with chains around their legs and their necks, their heads forced to look in one forward direction. They have been there since childhood, in darkness, seeing only a puppet show on the wall. They have not even seen themselves or each other. This shows captivity or no freedom of what they see or think. Their ideas and knowledge come from what they are forced to see. In contrast, things are much different for the man who was released from the cave and was dragged to the outside. He suffered as he adjusted to the new environment. As he gradually was able to see the actual world around him, he could contemplate on what he saw. Being able to conclude that the Sun caused seasons and controlled everything in the visible world is proof that he gained knowledge. That he had episteme and new ideas is an example that he was thinking for himself and had more freedom than the people below in the cave. Philosophy results in freedom because a person discovers their own knowledge and doesn’t depend on other’s …show more content…
When I was ten years old I left public school and attended a private school. At the private school every hour of the day was scheduled and the students had no choice in classes and activities. For example, we had no option on what to do during recess; it was already picked for us. Field trips were limited to a teacher’s farm, instead of going to the Denver Zoo or the Natural History Museum where most public schools classes went for field trips. Going to the zoo or the museum could be compared to exiting the cave, where students could see new things for the first time. Pictures of animals in the classroom could become real at the zoo. The teachers thought that giving no options to the students was in their best interest. The teachers were warm and maternal, however they taught according to this style. I think I can consider this private school to have some similar characteristics to the cave in the story. I felt mentally restricted, someone had everything planned similar to having no choice to watch the puppet show. I attended this school for three years and moved to a public middle school near my home. I wasn’t certain I wanted to leave when the time