Plato's Cave?

Question

anyone can give me a simple explaination for this parable and how does it relate to us now?

Answer 1

Its been a while since my philosophy classes, but if I remember correctly the story is that there are a group of people chained in a cave. There is a fire behind them which casts shadows on the wall in front of them. There is a walk way between the fire and the people, so they see shadows of the people. Because this is all they have known they think the whole world is like this.

The question is, is it the right thing to rescue these people? When they come out of the cave the light of the true world is blinding and painful to them. They dont want to come out, so do you force them for their own good?

I think this parable has a great deal to say to us today. There are people who deny the truth, either through prejudice, religious beliefs, or ignorance. They are content in their worlds. Do we force them to come out into the light of day?

Answer 2

To understand the Allegory of the Cave, it helps to understand a little about Plato's philosophy as a whole, and this will be helpful in answering the second part of your question regarding contemporary applications.

Plato had a dualist metaphysic, which means his ultimate reality consisted of two parts: The part we experience through our five senses, or our physical world, was not the ultimate reality for Plato; rather the world of ideas, which he called the world of forms, was "more" real.

To give a simple explanantion of this, you may believe that an apple you hold in your hand is as real as something could be, but after you have eaten that apple, the idea of its existence (color, form, shape, taste, smell, etc.) still remains even though the tangible representation of the apple has been destroyed.

This concept is key to your question and you can apply it to anything physical in nature that you encounter.

In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, prisoners are chained to a wall and it is assumed that these prisoners have no concept of Plato's ideology of Forms.

In the distance, there is a fire burning, behind which, puppeteers are casting shadows on a far wall. Plato's commentary here is on the perception of the prisoners. Firstly, because they believe the shadows themselves are actual objects, and secondly, because if they decided to engage in discourse with other prisoners and label the shadows, they would be mistaken because the shadows are not in fact the objects they think they are, but representations.

This is a bit wordy for Yahoo Answers category and certainly one of the great philosophical allegories of all time. My advice is to read different scholars interpretations because I don't think you will see proper homage paid to Plato here.

Still, to give you a very short push in a certain direction (only because Yahoo Answers is, in my opinion, a great vehicle for discourse), just consider Plato's idealism, his world of Forms as reality and make some basic connections between shadows and reality or illusions, hallucinations, perceptions and what really exists and then consider some contemporary issues, for example, the War in Iraq. Is that war justified? Do we need to be there? Better yet, are we there for the reasons we say we are?

So, are we believing in shadows?

Another example. Are you really "cooler" if you have 22" spinners on your ride?

And this can go very deep as Plato foresaw because the perception of the prisoner (dat shorty walkin' down da boulevard) as she sees some gangsta rollin' in his whip wif da phat beats thumpin'.... Well, that person may think they see a reality that in fact, is not a reality at all. In fact, that person may be most undesirable, a player with no respect for women in a borrowed car with rented rims.

Hope that somewhat contemporary example helps.

Peace.

Answer 3

In the most simple terms Plato is talking about waking up to the truth of reality about us. He is questioning the very nature of reality and playing the ultimate "what if" game. Not content with mere suggestion, Plato interprets the allegory (beginning at 517b): "This image then [the allegory of the cave] we must apply as a whole to all that has been said" —i.e., it can be used to interpret the preceding several pages, which concern the metaphor of the sun and the divided line. In particular, Plato likens "the region revealed through sight", i.e., the ordinary objects we see around us

to the habitation of the prison, and the light of the fire in it to the power of the sun. And if you assume the ascent and the contemplation of the things above is the soul's ascension to the intelligible region, you will not miss my surmise...[M]y dream as it appears to me is that in the region of the known the last thing to be seen and hardly seen is the idea of good, and that when seen it must needs point us to the conclusion that this is indeed the cause for all things of all that is right and beautiful, giving birth in the visible world to light, and the author of light and itself in the intelligible world being the authentic source of truth and reason...(517b-c)
The brilliant sun outside the cave represents the Form of the Good, and this passage among others can easily give the impression that Plato regarded this as a creative, independent god. Ordinarily we are held captive, viewing mere shadows of particular shapes that are themselves not even the genuine article— which can only be found "outside the cave", in an intelligible world of forms known by reason, not (relatively "dim") perception.

Moreover, after "returning from divine contemplations to the petty miseries of men", one is apt to cut "a sorry figure" if,

while still blinking through the gloom, and before he has become sufficiently accustomed to the environing darkness, he is compelled in courtrooms or elsewhere to contend about the shadows of justice or the images that cast the shadows and to wrangle in debate about the notions of these things in the minds of those who have never seen justice itself? (517d-e)
Plato could, perhaps, be thinking (or subtly reminding the reader) of the trial of Socrates here.

It might appear strange that, while acknowledging the political ineptness of one "returning from divine contemplations", Plato has all the while been describing the ideal state, ruled by philosopher-kings, a qualification of which is that they are in regular intercourse with the Form of the Good.

Another more simplistic interpretation of the Allegory is the process and consequence of enlightenment. First one has to awaken from the dream we call life (breaking the bonds); then we become aware of the webs that influence and move us (shadows on the wall); and finally we see the truth for what it truly is (the sun and world outside the cave). Our instinct and natural desire is to free others and awaken them to the truth, but doing so is futile for they cannot see past the illusions and will only attack the truth bearer.

The Allegory becomes a metaphor for the life of Socrates. Awakened to the truth and killed for trying to bring that truth to the chained.

Yet another interpretation is that of the Idealists. As in the philosophy of George Berkeley, it is understood that we do not directly and immediately know real external objects. We only directly know the effect that reality has on our minds. In other words, we immediately know only shadowy inner mental images of real external objects. The real external objects themselves cannot be immediately and directly known. In the Appendix to his main work, Schopenhauer expressed it as follows

Answer 4

The prisoner's in Plato's cave are the poor ordinary men, like me and you. Fortunately there are philosophers who are not happy with what they see or hear and they turn their heads and even try to get out from the cave to see the “real” world. Today the situation is even worse, there are some who control the fire, the projector of the images and finally what we see in order to control us (at least they try).

Answer 5

SIMPLE ANSWER!! GAINING KNOWLEDGE IS PAINFUL!! Its a struggle and in the beginning you resist it. Your parents and teachers try to shield you from this pain by telling you half truths or 'fairytales', but eventually you grow out of this safety zone and must face the powerful light of truth. You adjust to it and go on with your life or else you fail and go crying back into the 'cave'.

Answer 6

Plato said there was an ideal everything--an ideal apple, ideal human, etc. He said that what we saw in the real world was an imperfect shadow of that ideal.

Answer 7

i say its what everyone says and has to do alot with the idea of choosing knowledge, the responsibility of knowledge and the use of knowledge. as well as a explaination of human nature....a visual aid to help you better understand the theory would be to deeply look at the first Matrix movie....its based on this theory

Answer 8

i guess you could say it has to do with people living a certain way for so long until someone is finally brave enough to venture out into the world & experience what is has to offer.