Preview

Allegory of the Cave 1

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
666 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Allegory of the Cave 1
Allegory of the Cave

Julie Haire

PHI 103

Grand Canyon University

May 5, 2011

Mr. Terry J. Bovinet, D.Min.

Allegory of the Cave

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave brings about many question compared to Christianity. He depicts a group of prisoners in a cave chained and unable to move. The only thing they can see is shadows cast upon the wall by their guards. The rationalism in this is very confusing but based on Christianity many of us are prisoners of the world we live in and are kept here by the others around us and are unable to see the truth of the word of Christ because of all the illusions of the perfect world we are shown every day. The true path to a great life is through Christ. Does the path leading out of the cave represent the path to God? Plato shows it as a path to the supreme Good which he represents with the sun. He also states that the sun makes the prisoner who escapes turn away at first due to the brightness. “the light of the sun makes him turn his gaze away from it” (Srivastava, S Parg. 4). Could this be the light of God and how strong it is and the faith that it shows us is sometimes hard for us to accept. The prisoners are used to being in a dark cave. Is this what we live in until we find God? Could this be what Plato is showing us? I feel Plato is showing how we all get used to what is around us and seem to forget the real world and life we should be living in. Plato uses his Cave to show that the reality we are all use to and accustomed to is just a sham. It can often be a difficult journey to find God and have him in your life. The chains can represent the evil that holds man back from the path to glory. We all like to believe we are good and the prisoners new no other reality and felt what they see is the truth. They cannot accept that there is something better than the life they live. These evils are what we meant to avoid and to escape from evil. I personally view the prisoner as one


References: Srivatava, S Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Meaning and Interpretation Retrievedon May 6, 2011 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/platos-allegory-of-the-cave-meaning-and-interpretation.html The Holly Bible, Old and New Testaments King James Version, Romans
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Comparing Allegory Of The Cave 'And Letter From Birmingham Jail'
    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Comparing Allegory Of The Cave 'And Letter From Birmingham Jail'

    In “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, the nature of good is represented through the deprivation of light the prisoners of the cave experience. In this imaginary representation, the individuals are not so much prisoners of the actual cave as they are of their own ignorance. The prisoners are surrounded by darkness and faint light, depicting shadows into reality. If light is the representation of truth, then the darkness engulfing the cave represents the lies the prisoners ignorantly believe. Because the darkness is all that they have known, they…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparing Plato's The Cave And The Christian
    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing Plato's The Cave And The Christian

    People think the philosopher is nuts sometimes and some even become hostile (Socrates himself experienced this). I like the allegory of the cave because I think it captures the truth of Christianity in some ways. The world tells us that there is no God, that all there is, is the material. People tell us all the time in both words and acts that "what you see is what you get" and "when you die there is nothing so live for this life". But the truth of Christianity is that those are all shadows. We are being blinded by the god of this world to think that the material is all there is. If we were only able to break free from the chains that bind our minds we might see the…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    the cave vs the 4 idols
    • 356 Words
    • 1 Page

    the cave vs the 4 idols

    In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the world outside represents the world of forms and the…

    • 356 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    HU250 Unit 2 Assignment
    • 1469 Words
    • 4 Pages

    HU250 Unit 2 Assignment

    “The Allegory of the Cave”, the 7th book of Plato’s, The Republic”, can be interpreted in many ways. Depending on the point of view of the reader, the message can describe the trials and tribulations of man in general to the roadway of life and all of the detours along the way.…

    • 1469 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    "Shooting an Elephant" Synthesis Essay
    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    "Shooting an Elephant" Synthesis Essay

    Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford/…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Plato's Outlook On The Power Of Light And Darkness
    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Plato's Outlook On The Power Of Light And Darkness

    Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a metaphor and representation of perception. Prisoners are chained and forced to look up at the front wall inside of the cave while a fire burns behind them.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Plato Vs Stockman
    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Plato Vs Stockman

    In Plato’s work, The Allegory of the Cave, there are people chained in a cave where they are shown shadow depiction of images. While there is a group of people casting these shadows, one of the chained prisoners is visited by someone who convinces him to leave the cave. Once out of…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Allegory of Cave
    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Allegory of Cave

    Moreover, in the Plato’s allegory of cave, some of the prisoners released from the cave have a chance approaching toward entrance of the cave and they might be embarrassed when they realize what they have been seen was not the truth and this was only shadow. Most of the prisoners afraid of noticing the truth go back to the previous world, but some of them are trying to adapt the light and eventually they can see puppets and fire reflecting them in the cave. Some of the awakening sinners come out of the cave. At first, they cannot see anything dazedly, but somewhat over the time slowly they can recover their sight of eye by getting adjusted to the light. Finally then, they can see real sense of things reflected by nature. Also, by looking at blue sky they see the moon and stars at night and through the shadow of the sun reflected in water eventually they can look at the sun itself. Furthermore, they become awake about the fact that the sun making the season’s change chairs the heart of the entire visible world as provider of all-cause of visible things. Also, they realize that the sun is even the root of what they have seen in the cave. What Plato wants to mean about the nature of education in this allegory of the cave is…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Summary Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is a well-known allegory read by many scholars over the years and it continues to be taught today for its many symbols, theories and the categories is touches base on relating to human society. The prisoners reminds me of jail in a sense that thats what you are when your are in custody and what you can do is very limited, and the real world is completely cut off. Although my experiences in life do not contain on that relates to jail but this is what i first thought of after reading the allegory. However, I have a personal event that was illuminated after reading this allegory and that was recently when i viewed thousands of stars in the sky and thought differently about it that night then normal. Both of these topics can be can be contrasted with the events in the cave.…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Plato's Uneducated Cave
    • 200 Words
    • 1 Page

    Plato's Uneducated Cave

    Throughout his readings, Plato makes many points showing us that his prisoners are like us, but inside an uneducated cave with uneducated prisoners. He points out that we have understanding because of our senses. The reflections that the prisoners see are the true reality in the outside world but are invisible and are only known with the mind. The prisoners’ face the dark wall while they see and guess what these objects are that pass by them as shadows. Plato uses a metaphor, ‘adjusting the eyes’ which shows us that education is difficult and requires some sufferings. As one prisoner breaks free from his chains he goes towards the light. While he is out and exploring, his eyes finally adjust and the shadows that he was seeing were actually…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Truth In Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Truth In Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

    In Plato’s story, the prisoners living in the cave have no idea that they are actually in a cave. The cave represents the Earth in the figurative sense, but Plato portrayed it as a regular cave. Literally, the prisoners “have their legs and necks chained” (par 1). They are chained up in a chair and the chains prevent them from “turning round their heads” (par 1). The chains represent their lack of knowledge of God, which doesn’t allow…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Philosophies Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Philosophies Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    Plato’s allegory of the cave began with a description of a dark scene which included a group of individuals who lived in that cave since birth and knew nothing of the outside world. These individuals were confined and restricted to the point where they could not turn to their sides or look to see what was behind them, but could only look forward. There was no natural light seeping in, the walls were damp and dark, and all these individuals could picture or see came from shadows that were thrown on the wall by the light of a fire, a fire which was behind them, and behind that fire was a partial wall. On top of the partial wall were different statues that were controlled “puppeteers” who were not visible and resided beyond the partial wall.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Is The Allegory Of The Cave
    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What Is The Allegory Of The Cave

    In Plato’s parable, The Allegory of the Cave, he writes it as a dialogue between his brother and Socrates. Plato thinks of a “game”. It consists of a few prisoners, who are chained down and cannot turn their heads in any direction, a cave, a fire, and some objects with a group of people who carry them. The prisoners can only look straight ahead at a wall, and the people behind them put objects in front of the fire. The objects in front of the fire cast shadows onto the wall that the prisoners are looking at, and after seeing these shadows all your life, you believe them to be “real”. They begin to guess which shadow would appear next and when a prisoner would guess right, the others would praise him, and call him a master of “nature”. Eventually,…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ignorance In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Ignorance In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    Throughout Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” there is an internal struggle with in the protagonist to escape from the only place he has known as home just to find out that is like out of the cave. Within the cave it is extremely censored on what the people/prisoners are able to see and the only way they are shown anything is through shadow images that are projected upon the cave walls. They are shown manipulated images of birds, people, and other objects which in turn scares them into staying within the cave. The protagonist was determined to escape the cave to discover what was the real reality and truth outside of the cave. He was able to escape and see the light of the sun and was able to see what is really true.…

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Quality of Light
    • 635 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Quality of Light

    Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a direct representation of the human condition and the circumstances we as humans encounter. Plato confines our predicament to a cave brightened only by false flames, but his meaning is much more profound than that. The meaning of the allegory is that our view of life should not be limited to a dark hole- it should be about enlightening one’s mind and sharing one’s knowledge with others. We must learn not to judge, not to selfishly retain information, only to make others aware as we become aware. Plato explains that the idea of good “…is seen only with an effort…inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light… and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual” (para. 35). The emphasis on connecting the word ‘light’ and the idea of ‘good’ highlights what is one of the most important aspects of “Allegory of the Cave”.…

    • 635 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics