The Republic: The Allegory Of The Cave

Ana Flores
Professor Madrid
English 28
15 September 2015
Education
Not having any knowledge in this century gets somebody nowhere. However, gaining knowledge for some could be easy or difficult depending on their desire. Plato is well known Greek philosopher and writer. In the book, “The Republic: Book Vll” Plato and Socrates discuss about what would happen if people were prisoned in a cave chained their whole life and how a prisoner would act once outside the cave then force back in. Plato believes without having any education, one will be blinded to the truth. Blinding people from knowledge can lead them to confusion after realizing the truth. Plato and Socrates talked about an allegory of the cave, where people were chained to look straight
In The Allegory of The Cave, the prisoner was use to being in the cave in the dark and once being out in the light it was painful for him. In this passage, “And, if he compelled him to look at the light itself, would his eyes hurt and would he flee, turning away those things that he is able to make out and hold them to be really clearer than what is being shown?” (2) Plato and Socrates discuss how the prisoner might run away from the light because he doesn’t know what the light is. The prisoner understand the darkness, while the light is painful for them so they know it’s bad. Since pain is bad, the prisoner wants to go back to the cave were it’s safe and dark. They were being controlled to think that being in the dark is the only way to live, so obtaining the truth was difficult for the prisoner because he only thought one way. His mind wasn’t open to the truth pass the darkness. And after finding out the truth, and not being limited the prisoner found the
Knowledge can give you freedom whether it’s emotionally, mentally, or physically. In this case it’s mentally, the prisoner gains some education from the outside world and starts to realize what he saw before wasn’t real but shadows of the objects. And he cherish it so much, that he wants to go back to the cave and share it with the others back in the cave. In this quote the prisoner is a fool for going above and the prisoners don’t believe what he’s saying, “And if he once more had to compete with those perpetual prisoners in forming judgments about those shadows while his vision was still dim, before his eyes had recovered, and if the time needed for getting accustomed were not at all short, wouldn’t he be the source of laughter, and wouldn’t it be said of him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it’s not even worth trying to go up? And if they were somehow able to get their hands on and kill the man who attempts to release and lead up, wouldn’t they kill him?” (3) After going back to the cave, the prisoners and himself compete to name what shadows are casting in front of them and the prisoner who went above cannot name it because he still hasn’t gotten use to the dark and he can’t recognize the shadows no more. So, the others think there’s no point of going up if their eyes get damaged and they will kill anyone who tries to make them go up. The prisoners have no knowledge from being inside the cave, so when the prisoner