Preview

Knowledge In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
249 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Knowledge In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
Plato used the Allegory of the Cave to demonstrate human perception wherein knowledge gained through the five senses is nothing more than an opinion. Plato claimed that only through philosophical reasoning could one truly have real knowledge.
Part I
The cave is a symbolic representation of people believing that all knowledge comes from what they hear and see in their surroundings suggesting empirical evidence. The cave is a depiction of empirical knowledge advocates imprisoned in a cave of misunderstanding. Similarly, the shadows illustrate the perception of those who believe empirical evidence ensures knowledge. If one believes what one hears or sees must be taken as the truth, then one merely sees a shadow of the truth. In the contest,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In The Republic, the Philosopher King becomes compelled to tell his citizens medicinal lies. When the citizens do not understand something, like medicinal things, the philosopher king becomes able to tell them almost anything and they will believe everything he says, and exalt him. He is compelled to do this to ease their minds, since they would not understand anyway, he figures it is just easier to not tell them. The Philosopher King also seems to understand more than what the citizens understand. But it isn’t his nature that sets him apart from citizens like him, it is his wisdom, virtue, and knowledge that lifts him higher than everyone else, and allows his to “understand” things that the regular citizens would not. This suits him because he is so wise, he understands why the citizens do not understand what he understands, or knows.…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Plato's Allegory of the Cave there were multiple beliefs brought upon by the prisoners of this cave. The prisoners of the cave are supposed to parallel everyday people in the sense of how reality is perceived. The prisoners of the cave believed and only knew that reality of the shadows and developed their own belief structure and way of processing that information. Plato connected that to everyday people due to the fact that although we strongly believe the reality we have made for ourselves, there can be more that we have never been exposed to. For example, when one of the prisoners were unchained and brought out of the cave into the world, he was overwhelmed and wanted to tell the other prisoners. Due to the fact that other prisoners could…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Book 7, Socrates presents the famous metaphor – allegory of cave. The metaphor demonstrates the influence of education on a human soul. People see shadows of statues in the dark place and believe these figures to be real. This shows people’s lowest stage on the Socrates’ line – imagination. When a prisoner is unchained, blinded with the light of fire, within the time he sees that indeed shadows are reflections of statues. This is where belief is represented - he sees the link and percepts this to be real. Finally, the person is taken out of the cave and, blinded within the sunlight, later he sees the real world: real trees, flowers, animals,…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Allegory of the Cave” and “We Should Grow Too Fond of It: Why We Love the Civil War,” respectively, ancient and modern writers Plato and Drew Gilpin Faust articulate the way one perceives and believes reality. They assert that by shifting a fragmented focus of a subject of study to the subject as a whole, one can reach an altered and illuminated understanding of it (Faust 188, Plato 298). However, where Plato expresses, through an enlightening and famous metaphor, the necessity of a clear understanding that enables the thinker to change his skewed view of reality to ultimate reality, Faust underscores the necessity of a clear and realistic vision of war’s true devastating nature through detailed historical references. These differences aside, when pairing and studying both essays together, Plato’s essay offers a cautionary and enlightened vision of ultimate reality that is extended in Faust’s essay.…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The text I have used to do my rhetorical analysis is the “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato. In this text, Plato gives an explanation of his idea of the situation of humans in respect to knowledge by telling us an allegory.…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind Plato’s allegory is the basic opinion that all we perceive are imperfect “reflections” of the ultimate forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. The complex meanings that can be perceived from the “cave” can be seen in the beginning with the presence of the prisoners who are chained in the darkness of the cave. The prisoners are bound to the floor and unable to turn their heads to see what goes on…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave” (Plato) is a metaphor that shows how we believe reality. What it is showing is that the things we perceive are imperfect reflections of forms that only represent reality. In the Allegory, Plato uses a cave where prisoners are chained down and forced to look at the wall. Plato shows that the prisoners do not actually know what reality is. The readers understand that the puppeteers behind the prisoners are using objects to create shadows to real things and people, but the prisoners are unable to turn their heads, so they don’t know anything…

    • 1830 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Michael Ramsey’s video depicting Plato’s Allegory of the Cave men are held captive in a cave since childhood. The only reality they knew was demonstrated before them as the shadows of civilians as they passed by them. All seemed normal in their world until one of the prisoners was set free and taken out of the cave. Once his eyes became adjusted, he was able to accept the new reality portrayed all around him. I had a similar experience when I transitioned from high school to college. In high school my reality was based on the security, structure, and guidance provided by exterior influences, college has helped me to change my perception of reality.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The allegory of the cave in Plato’s Republic is a metaphor meant to illustrate Plato’s views on knowledge but also strengthens his perception of the noble lie in society, an idea that is still very relevant today. It is designed to ask the fundamental question of: “What is the truth?” This is a clear reference Plato’s ideology that rests upon the sworn duty that Guardians make towards the state and it is hence emphasized by this analogy. The journey that one makes to be able to attain that superior state is full of hardships1(The Republic, 516, a) but it is meant to illustrate the route the Guardians take to attain the Philosopher-King status. It is what leads a man to enlightenment but also establishes a supreme duty for whoever discovers…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave is a story that was written down by Plato, and told by Socrates many, many years ago. It tells of a cave containing prisoners who have been there since they were very young. Behind them is a fire that is burning, and between the fire and the prisoners is a road with a curtain-wall. Behind this curtain-wall are figures of wood and stone, including animals and men. Socrates asks if they had some form of freedom, such as being able to talk, or even being freed. Would they understand and be able to handle the outside world? To me, The Allegory of the Cave illustrates the fact that people sometimes do not understand reality for what it is.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exist in the soul…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What might "the chains" symbolize in today's society; here at D.A., here in NYC, here in the United States, and in the global society?…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Allegory of the Cave", is a metaphor of our world. The cave symbolizes our ignorance. If we do not experience something personally, the situation must not exist. The way we pinpoint situations are based on our three levels of thinking. The first level would be our imagination. We could see a shadow of an apple and if we would not what an apple was, we would picture it as a ball or something familiar. The next level would be our senses. Once we could touch, feel and see but yet still have no experience we would still be easy to manipulate and mold. Our intellect is the third level. Our intellect is our ability to think, to face ideas and build our own opinions and views of the world around us. Our level is dependent on our upbringing, religion, culture, and environment. Along with experience, this is how we depict certain situations, however in no way does this mean our depictions are true.…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave by Plato questions truth, reality, and demonstrates how we are similar to the prisoners within the cave. Every person has a personal “cave” and only with knowledge and understanding can we escape from the captivity ignorance.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    english paper

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Will Durant, a U.S author and historian, writes, “Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” This means that all the knowledge people once had is misleading to what the truth really is. Similarly, in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write” a painful process of gaining knowledge through all the ignorance is described. Plato describes a prisoner going on a journey to gain knowledge that is behind him, after he was stuck staring at a wall of shadows his whole life. He goes back to tell the other prisoners of his discoveries and they want to kill him. Douglass is a slave who learns to read and write, going through stages to achieve each step. As he begins gaining knowledge he finds the truth about slavery which startles him. Socrates’ idea that gaining knowledge is a difficult journey to undertake because by doing so it changes the way people see the world, as proven by Douglass’ experiences.…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays