The real world that the man glimpsed, Plato suggests, wasn’t actually the experiential, material world, but the world of ideas, or the greatest good life beyond illusion.Īnd the shackles? A representation of human ignorance and an indication that much of humanity is trapped within its own shadow reality, blissfully unaware of its predicament. In the story, Socrates presents the cave as a superficial reality and the shadows on the cave wall as its subjective fiction. So, what is the lesson Socrates wished to impart with this allegory? Allegorical Themes His brothers, upon witnessing his blindness, would infer that he had been harmed after escaping and resist all suggestion to embark upon the journey. However, with eyes now unaccustomed to darkness, he would struggle to find his way back to the souls in the cave.
#THE CAVE PLATO FREE#
Knowing that he was now seeing the objective truth, Plato suggests that the man might return to the cave to free his fellow prisoners and help them too, see the light. He would see reflections in the water, people around him, and finally look upon the sun, seeing reality in all of its unfiltered beauty. Suppose, suggests Plato, that one of the prisoners is released and turns to face the fire, encountering the truth of his situation – that the fire was merely casting an elaborate illusion.Īt first, he would naturally struggle to see, painfully blinded by the light.īut suppose, despite his discomfort and anger, that he was forcibly removed from the cave into the sunlight.Īlthough he would yearn for his familiar sanctuary, over time, his eyes would adjust to the light. They follow dance in the darkness as if it were the objective truth. Having never turned around or left the cave, the prisoners are bound by their circumstances, believing the shadows before them to be a real representation of the world. The prisoners are forced, by their restraints, to maintain their observation of the shadows dancing before them. Between the prisoners and the fire is a raised walkway, where people walk, carrying “objects or puppets.”
Behind them, further up the incline is a fire.
Imagine a group of prisoners in a cave at the bottom of a slope, shackled to face the wall. The allegory of the cave documents a conversation between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Socrates, in which his mentor summarises the human condition with a simple analogy.
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