Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

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The topic of enlightenment is a common one and has been the subject of many prominent examples in literature, poetry, and film. Plato believed that knowledge does not come from just perception or vision but rather from thinking and that true knowledge is knowledge of the unknown. Furthermore, In order to exemplify his theories, Plato included a dialogue between his brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates where he discusses a hypothetical scenario known as “the Allegory of the Cave” that demonstrates the effects of education and how the lack of it affects one’s nature. Plato uses the prevalent spiritual concept of the divine light to symbolize enlightenment and darkness to symbolize ignorance. These two topics are further expounded by William…show more content…
Golding describes grade three thinkers as people whose “thoughts are often full of unconscious prejudice, ignorance, and hypocrisy.”(Golding, 268) Golding recounts his own frustrations towards this way of thinking by mentioning his school professor’s resolute lecture regarding young Golding’s disobedience towards his teachers and the status quo. This experience and various subsequent ones are what led Golding to question his teachers and authority in general and what caused him to categorize the three levels of thinking. Moreover, grade three thinkers are docile individuals who believe whatever they are told and do not question authority nor contemplate any fallacies. This classification represents the majority of the population and can also describe the trapped prisoners in “The Allegory of the Cave”. The prisoners are blissfully ignorant of the real world and their perceptions of it are blocked out by the fire and are solely based from their visions of shadows on a wall. The prisoners’ only reality is the cave and its shadows, thus, they are blind towards the real world’s truths. A similar situation affects the citizens of the dystopian Oceania in George Orwell’s “1984” where the despotic government utilizes tight totalitarian regulation in order to oppress and control

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