The Allegory of The Cave, by Plato

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Plato’s logical strategy in the allegory of the cave is of deductive reasoning. Plato uses a cave containing people bound by chains which constrict their neck and legs in such a way that they are unable to turn around and there is a fire roaring behind them casting shadows on the wall. Since the prisoners cannot turn their heads to see what is casting the shadow the only thing they can perceive are the shadows and the sounds that seem to becoming from them. This is what Plato argues in the allegory of the cave “To them, I said, the truth would literally be nothing but the shadows of the images.”(The Allegory of the Cave Plato). Since these prisoners know nothing outside of the cave they are ignorant of the “light” and are content on seeing the shadows before them. Plato describes what it would be like for a prisoner to be released and forced to go out of the cave into the light Plato describes it as being “blinding”. Once the freed prisoner became accustomed to the light outside the cave it is believed by Socrates and Glaucon, inside Plato’s allegory that the prisoner would not want to return to the darkness from which he had “ascended”. Once the prisoner has become accustomed to the light Socrates said “I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed, they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having or not”. (The Allegory of the Cave Plato) This is where Plato begins to start on the topic of leadership. Although Plato uses some cause and effect elements in his allegory, such as “Where as if they go to the administration of public affairs, poor and hungering after their own private advantage, thinking that henc...

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...en they in turn can educate others. By educating the others they are acting as leaders and most likely will be selected to lead their state with these virtues and philosophy.

Conclusion, Plato’s deductive reasoning and strong analogies such as how an ignorant individual is like that of a chained individual in the likes that they know only of their own perceived reality is what makes Plato’s allegory persuasive and quite rhetorical. Plato’s argument about what qualities are needed to be a leader and lead a state is quite lucid. Overall his reasoning and argument concurrently go together in expressing his conclusion that in order for a society to be truly “rich” is to have “virtue” and “wisdom”. This is why Plato’s deductive reasoning is found to be sound and persuasive in his rhetorical allegory.

Works Cited

"The Allegory of The Cave" Plato Paragraphs 1-10

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