Plato’s allegory of the Cave Angela Winward Eng 231 October 5, 2014

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is a hypothetical theory about human perception. He makes a point that there are people who have an illusion of what reality is as opposed to the actual truth using philosophy and reasoning. We see a lot of symbols such as the cave, the shadows, the escape, and the return as examples of how we perceive truth and the journey to learning the actual truth. We can apply this philosophy into our own lives to help us realize that sometimes there are things that cloud the reality of certain situations. We just need some perspective.

Where does the allegory of the cave come from? Q&A: Where does the allegory of the cave come from? The allegory comes from Plato’s book, The Republic, which is an account of some of his philosophies. It is an excerpt from the book where he has a fictional dialogue from his teacher Socrates and Plato’s brother, Glaucon. This conversation leads to some deep philosophical interpretations. For centuries philosophers, historians, theologians, logicians and sociologists have been trying to dig deeper interpretations out of this single allegory.

Man struggles against nature. This man is born into captivity knowing nothing but sensory knowledge. Everything he knows as real is the nature of his situation. He escapes the cave and is now able to see everything in its realistic form. This is the material part of human nature. After learning about reality, he desires to tell his fellow captives so they can learn too, only to be turned out because they do not believe him and if he tried to release them, they would kill him

MY EXPERIENCES My educational experience helps me to relate to this allegory. When I started school, I was full of assumptions from hearing others experiences. I knew it would be hard and time-consuming but I did not realize what that would actually be and feel like. I did not anticipate the true reality of how it would be until I was challenged for the first time to really work my brain. I also did not take into consideration of balancing my home life with my school life. I had heard others tell their stories but the reality of how it would be for me was not understood until I actually experienced it first-hand.

“My opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all and is seen only with an effort, and when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world” - Plato This quote stood out to me because I see it as a positive message. He just told us a story about a man born in ignorance and ended in complete knowledge. I think this quote just sums up that in the end there is always a light or happiness, but not without effort on ones part. His words are very literal for me and I do not think I need to delve any deeper than once we have true knowledge, we can work towards something positive that will make us happy.

CONCLUSION The Allegory of the Cave is an inspirational philosophy from Plato’s book, The Republic. It is a hypothetical story that presents examples of how a being can be captive by a certain reality until they are introduced to the actual reality and they learn from it and want to share their new knowledge, but others can be scared about that knowledge and reality. It is about education of the soul toward enlightenment. We should apply this philosophy to our lives. We should be open to other perspectives and make an effort to be taught.

WORKS CITED "Plato -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 6 Oct. 2014 “Plato's Republic." AbleMedia LLC - A Knowledge Company. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. Pohlmann, Ken C. "Plato's Cave." Stereo Review 03 1997: 28. ProQuest. Web. 6 Oct. 2014 .