Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is one of the most well-known philosophical concepts in history.
PLATO- At a glance Full name: Plato (Πλάτων) Born: 428–427 BC; Athens Died: 348–347 BC (age approx. 80); Athens Era: Ancient philosophy Region: Western Philosophy Notable ideas: Platonic realism Influenced by: Socrates, Homer, Hesiod, Aristophanes, Aesop, Protagoras, Parmenides, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Orphism
A quick recap if you haven’t heard of The Allegory of the Cave
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So the key life lesson from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is to question every assumption you have about the reality you call “real.” This is a powerful way to develop the skill of thinking for yourself and discovering your own unique solutions to any problem.
The ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ is a theory put forward by plato concerning human perception. Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is no more than opinion and that, in order to have real knowledge, we must gain it through philosophical reasoning.
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth and people who really do see the truth. It goes like this:
The Cave
Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to some rocks, their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that they cannot look at anything but the stonewall in front of them.
These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the cave.
Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway.
People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their head including; animals, plants, wood and stone.
The Shadows
So, imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything behind or to the side of you – you must look at the wall in front of you.
When people walk along the walkway, you can see shadows of the objects they are carrying cast on to the wall.
If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that the shadows of objects were ‘real.
The Game
Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which shadow would appear next.
If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as clever and say that he were a master of nature.
The Escape
One of the prisoners then escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave.
He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be real.
As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former view of reality was wrong.
He begins to understand his new world, and sees that the Sun is the source of life and goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning
He see’s that his former life, and the guessing game they played is useless.
The Return
The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings.
They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.
‘ The Allegory of The Cave’ by Plato – The Meaning
The Allegory of the cave by Plato
The Cave
In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world – empirical evidence. The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding.
The Shadows
The Shadows represent the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence ensures knowledge. If you believe that what you see should be taken as truth, then you are merely seeing a shadow of the truth. In Plato’s opinion you are a ‘pleb’ if you believe this (their insult for those who are not Philosophers)!
The Game
The Game represents how people believe that one person can be a ‘master’ when they have knowledge of the empirical world. Plato is demonstrating that this master does not actually know any truth, and suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this.
The Escape
The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside of the senses.
The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge
His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey when finding truth and wisdom
The Return
The other prisoners reaction to the escapee returning represents that people are scared of knowing philosophical truths and do not trust philosophers.
The key life lesson from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is to question every assumption you have about the reality you call “real.” This is a powerful way to develop the skill of thinking for yourself and discovering your own unique solutions to any problem.
The path to enlightenment is painful and arduous, says Plato, and requires that we make four stages in our development.
- Imprisonment in the cave (the imaginary world)
- Release from chains (the real, sensual world)
- Ascent out of the cave (the world of ideas)
- The way back to help our fellows
Orson Welles’s psychedelic 1973 adaptation of Plato’s timeless allegory of the cave
Warning: this film features rapidly flashing images that can be distressing to photosensitive viewers.
The reality prison a new way off looking at The Allegory of The Cave
- We take for granted the things we know and ultimately have the potential to fall into blind ignorance and even resort to violence to defend our ignorance.
- Plato then suggests a hypothetical situation to Glaucon. What if by chance one of the cave dwellers finds a way to come out of the cave to the outside world?
- After adjusting to the Sun’s light, the cave dweller would then be able to see all of the things in the world properly illuminated for the first time.
- The cave dweller is amazed at all of reality, in which he is finally able to experience for what it really is rather than the mere projection of it.
- Because he has gotten accustomed to the light of the outer world, when he attempts to re-enter the cave, he gets lost in the darkness and is disoriented by the lack of sunlight.
- When he, in turn, feels the same about them and proceeds to explain to the others what the sun is, what a real tree looks like, and the texture of the other things he has experienced, the other cave dwellers get sarcastic and dismissive. They feel that leaving the cave has blinded him and left him in error.
- They ridicule his ideas, feeling he has gone away from the shadowy figures.
- The inhabitants are a representation of the masses who have not dedicated themselves to thinking clearly or accepting new perceptions of what reality is.
- “The Allegory of The Cave” can be used as a cautionary tale to warn us about what happens when we are close-minded and violently against new ideas of reality.
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Allegory of the cave
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