Plato's Analogy Of The Cave

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In Plato's analogy of the cave he compares people who are uneducated in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, forced to look straight ahead. All the prisoners are able to see is the wall of the cave in front of them. Behind the prisoners is a barrier and behind that a fire burns casting shadows against the wall that the prisoners are forced to look at. Puppeteers walk along the barrier and hold up puppets that cast shadows along the wall, but the prisoners are unable to see the real objects, and are only ever allowed to know of the shadows being cast. The prisoners mistake appearance for reality, they see the shadows on the wall and know nothing of the real objects. Plato also speaks of a guessing game that the prisoners would create in which they would guess which shadow would appear next. When one of the prisoners guessed correctly they would be deemed as the cleverest of them all.…show more content…
The escaped prisoner does not believe that this world is the real one but eventually adjusts and understands that everything he knew from inside the cave was false. He understands that the Sun is the source of life and he goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning. He reflects back on his old life and understands that the guessing game they once played was useless. The prisoner returns to the cave in order to enlighten his old prison mates but they are in disbelief and threaten his life if he attempts to set them

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