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Understanding Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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Understanding Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
The Allegory of the Cave is very important to understanding Plato. The allegory says we all live in a cave and all we can see are the shadows of reality on the cave wall. The shadows are based on reality but they are very distorted. If we rely on our own experience to understand things we will never get beyond these distorted shadows.

We need a guide to take us out of the cave and into the sunlight where we can see reality as it truly is. But as we leave the cave the daylight blinds us so we need our guide to continue to help us. That guide is the philosopher.

Getting out the cave is a long process. We may think we are out but really, we are just in a larger and better lit cave and still confused by distortions. When we truly understand

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