Imagine prisoners, who have been chained since their childhood deep inside a cave: not only are their limbs immobilized by the chains; their heads are chained in one direction as well, so that their gaze is fixed on a wall.
Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which statues of various animals, plants, and other things are carried by people. The statues cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When one of the statue-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall causes the prisoners to believe that the words come from the shadows.
The prisoners engage in what appears to us to be a game: naming the shapes as they come by. This, however, is the only reality that they know, even though they are seeing merely shadows of images. They are thus conditioned to judge the quality of one another by their skill in quickly naming the shapes and dislike those who play poorly.
Suppose a prisoner is released and compelled to stand up and turn around. At that moment his eyes will be blinded by the sunlight coming into the cave from its entrance, and the shapes passing by will appear less real than their shadows.
The last object he would be able to see is the sun, which, in time, he would learn to see as the object that provides the seasons and the courses of the year, presides over all things in the visible region, and is in some way the cause of all these things that he has seen.
2007-09-11 18:14:40 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Once enlightened, so to speak, the freed prisoner would not want to return to the cave to free "his fellow bondsmen," but would be compelled to do so. Another problem lies in the other prisoners not wanting to be freed: descending back into the cave would require that the freed prisoner's eyes adjust again, and for a time, he would be one of the ones identifying shapes on the wall. His eyes would be swamped by the darkness, and would take time to become acclimated. Therefore, he would not be able to identify the shapes on the wall as well as the other prisoners, making it seem as if his being taken to the surface completely ruined his eyesight
2007-09-11 18:15:50 · update #1
jivesspeak,this is not homework. Just decided to make people think and get educated. Also want to view everyones different opinion.
2007-09-11 19:20:15 · update #2
Rea, Plato's Allegory of the Cave is intended to enlighten people about how they would rather remain uninformed and interpret that which they KNOW is false rather than actually do the work of adjusting to truth and thereby become enlightened to what is actually REAL. It illustrates also, how when an enlightened person comes into their midst, they attempt to discredit that person even though they TRULY know that that person has seen and experienced something which they haven't. The basis for their discrediting is soley on their OWN experience and does NOT include the experience of the other who has expereinced BOTH and is therefore wiser.
BB,
Raji the Green Witch
2007-09-12 13:42:07 · answer #1 · answered by Raji the Green Witch 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". Too complex to answer in this brief forum, but in short, it explains the difference between the truth (the light outside), which is unattainable by humans, and the "forms" (those shadows on the wall) that we hold in our minds.
Forms are concepts we use to define meaning, but they are not the same as what is actually true. As a simplified example, when I say "chair", everyone has a concept in their mind of what a chair is, and these concepts differ from person to person. According to Plato, there is one true chair, but we can never experience it. We only have those forms of chair we use to define what a chair is.
Don't you just love philosophy? Good luck with it...
2007-09-11 19:07:53 · answer #2 · answered by lduncan00 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Rae, I hope your question here as well as your questions in the poetry section aren't homework questions, because if they are...well, then you would be a textbook example of how the American education system is going down the tubes.
Plato is talking about ignorance and education in this section, though many people have used this allegory to elucidate the clash between simulation and reality (such as the movie The Matrix). Keep that in mind when you read it through again. This is one of Plato's most famous allegories, the Allegory of the Cave.
2007-09-11 19:08:44 · answer #3 · answered by jivespeak 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
the prisoner brought into the light sees things as they truly are. while mankind sees and interprets reflections, second hand information. When he/she returns Mankind cannot accept that it only sees reflections and the prisoner would be considered mistaken and blind. Better/safer to go with the majority? even though you know it's false
2007-09-11 18:42:56 · answer #4 · answered by lab90210 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋