The Allegory Of The Cave And Plato's Three Metamorphoses
486 Words2 Pages
Plato and Nietzsche both describe a process in their works that can be called "enlightenment". Those processes are referring to "The Allegory of the Cave" as per Plato and "The Three Metamorphoses" as per Nietzsche. Both processes are similar and vastly different at the same time. They both teach ways of attaining knowledge and an understanding of life and reality. However the journey of reaching the understanding of life and knowledge to bettering oneself is achieved differently between Plato and Nietzsche. In Plato's Republic, Plato sees that humans are missing true knowledge and the understanding of what is real in life as appose to what is believed to be real. Therefore, he uses a parable to better explain what humans are missing out on…show more content… In the cave allegory prisoners are chained by their legs and necks to the floor where they cannot turn around to see what is behind them; they can only look straight forward. As they look forward there is a fire that burns behind them casting shadows on the wall in front of these human beings. In front of the fire yet behind the people is a raised walkway of which people can walk on. Those people are called puppeteers, and the puppeteers hold objects in their hands in front of the fire that allows shadows to be casted on the wall for the prisoners to see them. The shadows are the only things they can see making those shadows seem real to the people staring at them all day. This is where the prisoners mistake appearance for reality. They are stationed like this since they are children and do not know any better. If a prisoner was set free and able to turn around and see the fire and the puppeteers, they would then see that the shadows are not the real thing, they are only images of the real objects behind them. Once the prisoner goes outside they would be blinded by the sun and disorientated for a while until his eyes adjusted, and would then be able to see beyond the