A Breakdown of Plato's Allegory of the Cave
ENG 1213: Principles of English Composition II
Unit 2: A Breakdown of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”
Kelli McBride
Definition from "Literary Terms" (http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/allegory.html): Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.
Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Speakers in the allegory (each paragraph break indicates a switch in speaker): • Socrates: read a biography of him here: http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/socr.htm. Socrates is the teacher and speaks first. His role is to help his students reach enlightenment. He believed the best way to do this was through the dialectic method, also called the Socratic method (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method). Basically, Socrates asks probing questions, setting up situations that the student can respond to, usually with a yes or no response in Plato 's dialogues. • Glaucon: read a short bio of him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaucon. Glaucon is the student Socrates is teaching in this excerpt from Plato 's Republic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato 's_Republic; to read it: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html), a work of 10 books that details Plato 's ideal society.
NOTE: I am using Wikipedia entries that I feel are accurate. However, you may NOT use Wikipedia as a source in your work for this class. I only cite them here to give you general background information that is easy to access.
Set up: Socrates has just finished discussing the worlds of being/becoming (http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/timaeus.htm), the dividing line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy_of_the_divided_line), and the theory of
Unit 2: A Breakdown of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”
Kelli McBride
Definition from "Literary Terms" (http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/allegory.html): Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.
Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Speakers in the allegory (each paragraph break indicates a switch in speaker): • Socrates: read a biography of him here: http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/socr.htm. Socrates is the teacher and speaks first. His role is to help his students reach enlightenment. He believed the best way to do this was through the dialectic method, also called the Socratic method (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method). Basically, Socrates asks probing questions, setting up situations that the student can respond to, usually with a yes or no response in Plato 's dialogues. • Glaucon: read a short bio of him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaucon. Glaucon is the student Socrates is teaching in this excerpt from Plato 's Republic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato 's_Republic; to read it: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html), a work of 10 books that details Plato 's ideal society.
NOTE: I am using Wikipedia entries that I feel are accurate. However, you may NOT use Wikipedia as a source in your work for this class. I only cite them here to give you general background information that is easy to access.
Set up: Socrates has just finished discussing the worlds of being/becoming (http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/timaeus.htm), the dividing line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy_of_the_divided_line), and the theory of
Cited: “Analogy of the Divided Line.” Wikipedia. 27 Feb. 2008. 3 Mar. 2008 . Cohen, S. Mark. “Plato’s Cosmology: The Timaeus.” PHIL 320: History of Ancient Philosophy. 16 Nov. 2006. University of Washington. 21 Aug. 2007 . “Glaucon.” Wikipedia. 17 Feb. 2008. 3 Mar. 2008 . Kemerling, Garth. “Plato: Immortality and the Forms.” Philosophy Pages. 21 Oct. 2001. 21 Aug. 2007 . ---. “Socrates.” Philosophy Pages. 9 Aug. 2006. 21 Aug. 2007 . “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Wikipedia. 3 Mar. 2008. 3 Mar. 2008 .