Plato`s `The Allegory of the Cave and Knowledge

Plato`s `The Allegory of the Cave and Knowledge

Plato`s `The Allegory of the Cave and Knowledge

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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 his allegory is the basic tenets that all we perceive are imperfect reflections

of the ultimate Forms , which subsequently represent truth and reality In his story , Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the

front wall of the cave . The two elements to the story the fictional metaphor of the prisoners , and the philosophical tenets in which said story is supposed to represent , are crucial to the understanding of the allegory

The multi-faceted meanings that can be perceived from the Cave ' can be seen in the beginning with the presence of prisoners who are chained within the darkness of the aforementioned cave . The prisoners are bound to the floor and unable to turn their heads to see what goes on behind them . To the back of the prisoners , under the protection of the parapet lie the puppeteers who are casting the shadows on the wall in which the prisoners are perceiving reality . The passage is actually told not from the perspective of the prisoners , but rather a conversation occurring between Socrates and Glaucon (Plato 's brother . While the allegory itself isn 't the story , but rather the conversational dialogues between Glaucon and Socrates...