Ancient philosophical writings have changed the modern world in many ways and in some cases still can change the way people think. The anecdote in “The Allegory of the Cave” relates to many problems that we still deal with today. The reluctance of people to turn to enlightenment and learn has not just occurred in modern times. To bring this piece of writing into the the twenty-first century the Wachowski Brothers created something more relatable, the Matrix. In the Matrix, characters experience enlightenment from a computer generated reality. Both of these pieces of work have much to do with perception of reality, but there are many other similarities and differences.
In the “Allegory of the Cave” the prisoner understands the world that he
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In the “Allegory of the Cave” the prisoners having “their legs and necks chained” symbolizes their inability to leave the cave and experience the outside world (Plato 284). The matrix blinds the people in the movie so they do not know of any other outside world. They were “born into bondage” because of the shadows of the reality that are projected into the real world (Matrix). The experiences of the prisoners in “The Allegory of the Cave” and the people in the Matrix deviate from that of people that are enlightened, because all that they experience is fabricated.
If a person is a slave to a system that they do not know exists are they truly slaves or are they making choices at their own whim within the bounds of their master's will? The conscious decision of Neo in the Matrix to learn and enter the real world does not depict the idea of systematic slavery. In the “Allegory of the Cave” the prisoner is forced into the real world and enlightenment. This depicts slavery more so than in the Matrix, because Neo had a choice but the prisoner did
he was free to leave? Would the man feel pain when seeing the real world?
In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, he tells a story about prisoners that were chained up in a cave. There were shadows constructed on the wall of the cave that played as the prisoner’s reality. One of the prisoners in the story ends up breaking free and begins to experience the real-world. Learning all that he had learned since the cave including the shadows was controlled by other people and a lie. When he went back to tell the others, the others were afraid of what he was saying and didn’t believe him. The question that is being asked for this essay is whether or not we think that “The Allegory of the Cave” is still relevant today. I think that “The Allegory of the Cave” is still relevant in our lives today.
In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato describes the cave as very dark with chained people inside and a wall where they can only see shadow illusions, which they believe is reality. Outside the cave, there is “light” and “truth.” One chained person is released into the “light,” which is uncomfortable at first, because of how bright the “light” or “truth” is however, once he adjusts, he realizes the outer world is the “truth” or reality and the cave is a shadow of reality. He pities the ones in the cave, still lost in the darkness yet, when he tries to make them see reality, their ignorance overpowers them and they kill the enlightened one out of fear and confusion. This is the kind of society, full of puppet-handlers, the narrator Sylvia in “The Lesson” dwells in and the author, Toni Cade Bambara, depicts Sylvia as being freed from the chains of ignorant society. Bambara’s released prisoner, Miss Moore, is the one to free Sylvia and the other chained prisoners and exposes them to the “light,” which is the unequal distribution of wealth and the “truth,” which is educating youth on economic inequality so the freed prisoners can learn to change their society’s shadow of reality.
Sometimes we leave in an illusion that sometime is hard believed when you see the reality. In the “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato represent an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. Plato explains that allegory; the basic beliefs that all we perceive are imperfect reflections of the ultimate forms, which represent truth and reality. Plato in the “Allegory in the Cave” establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. The Allegory of the cave may be viewed as a devastating criticism of our everyday lives as being in bondage to superficialities, to shadow rather than to the real world.
According to the allegory, the cave represents the ordinary world of society. Similar to the cave, the ordinary world of society consists of conventional thinking, truths, and beliefs. Therefore, this ordinary world is inhabited with ordinary individuals-prisoners- who don’t take the time to analyze and question their realities. While the cave represents current ordinary societies, the shadows represent a distorted version of the truth. Like the prisoners in the cave, individuals in the ordinary world are exposed to different and distorted versions of the truth that shadow the actual truth.
Imagine living through life completely bound and facing a reality that doesn’t even exist. The prisoners in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” are blind from true reality as well as the people in the movie “The Matrix” written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. They are given false images and they accept what their senses are telling them, and they believe what they are experiencing is all that really exists. Plato the ancient Greek philosopher wrote “The Allegory of the Cave”, to explain the process of enlightenment and what true reality may be. In the movie “The Matrix”, Neo (the main character) was born into a world of illusions called the matrix. His true reality is being controlled by the puppet- handlers called the machines who use the human body as a source of energy. In the movie, Neo, finds and alternate reality and he has to go on a journey to discover himself and what is around him. Much like “The Allegory of the Cave” the prisoners in a dark underground cave, who are chained to the wall, have a view of reality solely based upon this limited view of the cave which is but a poor copy of the real world. Both the prisoners of the cave, and Neo from the Matrix, have to transcend on the path of ‘enlightenment’ to know the truth of their own worlds.
Plato wrote “The Allegory of the Cave” in the early 300 B.C. This parable has left many scholars dumbfounded throughout centuries because of the insight Plato fills the pages within the story. It is a story of prisoners trapped in a cave, but specifically about a mans journey from ignorance to knowledge. This is the worldly take on the story—in a biblical point of view it is still a journey from ignorance to knowledge, but in a very different context. The journey from the darkness of the cave into the light of the outside world in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” can be paralleled with the unbelievers journey into salvation.
In "The Allegory of the Cave," prisoners in a cave are forced to watch shadows as people behind them are forced to accept these shadows as reality -- "To them... the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. One prisoner, however, is released, and stumbles into the real world, containing more depth and complexity than they had ever known. At first, the prisoner will be pained at the bright, piercing light, but will eventually recover. According to Plato, the freed prisoner is then obligated to return to the shadows of the cave, to inform the shackled prisoners left behind of the real world. The prisoners, however, will not believe the freed prisoner, and may even go as afra s to kill him for such "lies" contrary to their "reality." The pursuit of the truth is, therefor, a painstaking but rewarding process. According to Plato, the physical world is a world of sight, one that lacks meaning if left alone. Only those who manage to break into the sunlight from the cave will ascend to the intellectual world. The prisoners in the shadows only know of the dull physical world, while those who ascend into the sunlight learn of the spiritual world, and are exposed to the first hints of truth. The soul ascends upward into the realm of goodness and of the truth, where "... souls are ever hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell.." The pursuit of goodness and of the truth, then, improves the soul, as the soul desires to be elevated to a higher state of knowledge and morality. Caring for the self and the soul involves freeing the shackles of the physical world and ascending to the "... world of knowledge... the universal author of all things beautiful and right... and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual..." The soul yearns to dwell in a world of morality and knowledge, and only the pursuit of
An allegory is a story made up to describe a moral. In Plato's Book VII, Socrates creates this allegory to prove a point to Plato's brother, Glaucon. Firstly, it is good to know the story behind The Allegory of the Cave before one can make objections to it, and then when that is understood one can finally take a stand to those objections.
In Plato's Republic, the great philosopher describes what is needed to achieve a perfect society. He addresses several subjects still debated in today's society, such as justice, gender roles, and the proper form of education. He discusses these issues through his main character, Socrates. Socrates, another well-known philosopher for his time, happens upon a group of men, and what begins as a modest question, leads into a series of debates, metaphors, and allegories. Perhaps the most discussed allegory in today's popular culture is the Allegory of the Cave. Over the past decade, several movies have mimicked the fantasy, the most profitable being the Matrix Trilogy. But what makes this story so fascinating? Through it, Plato attempts to map a man's journey through education. The map used is another metaphor: the Line. He explains the rewards for those who reach the top of the Line, and the significance of those who fall short. He also tries to answer the important question, how does a city's ruler view politics and education, once he has reached true understanding?
The fourth dimension is significantly portrayed throughout visual arts. Artists such as Picasso, Dali, Tony Robin and James Billmyer use the optical illusion of the fourth dimension promptly in their art work. Dimensions orientate the emotion, perception and physicality of an art piece, allowing the viewer to enhance their perception. The mathematical accuracy and understanding of geometry is not only important in the use of the fourth dimension in art, it is the very foundation of art.
In "Allegory of the Cave" Plato's describes the journey, which individuals must embark on in order to achieve enlightenment. Plato depicts a comprehensive metaphor that aims to outline the disadvantages we face as a result of a lack of education. When analyzing the ‘Allegory of the Cave’ it's imperative to remember that there are two elements to the story. The first element is the fictional metaphor of the prisoners and the second element is the philosophical view in which the story is supposed to portray, therefore presenting us with the allegory itself.
Thereby, an educated person has a better life than the life of an uneducated person. The allegory of the cave is about self-satisfaction with oneself. Plato states that the terms of the language people use to get their meaning by “naming” the objects people perceive something to be, like the meaning of the truth. The prisoner in the cave represents a person who does not want to learn more than what he or she already believes what the truth is. The literature, “Civil Disobedience”, by Thoreau states that teach “‘render therefore… to God those things which are God’s’—leaving them no wiser than before as to which was which; for they did not wish to know” (315). In other words, the prisoner was happy with the knowledge and cave he or she lived in. However, the man who went out of the cave suffers from the blinding light to get out of his safe zone in order to build new knowledge. Plato states that in order to gain the new knowledge one has to leave their safe zone by getting hurt. In the case of the person in the cave, he was hurt by the light. It was painful for the person to see light when all he had ever know was
"No Justice, No Peace!" A statement that has become the headline of the protest on the 405 freeway in Inglewood. This protest broke out on July 17, 2016 at 10:30p.m. when several civilians garnered attention towards a common goal; to end racial discrimination and police brutality to the people of color. Although this protest lasted only about ten minutes, the civilized behavior these protesters displayed was phenomenal and grabbed hold of many witnesses whose cars had been held on the highway. With the advancement in the media, these protesters sought an opportunity to address the first world problems and created the "Black Lives Matter" movement. This movement along with the protest have become completely justifiable in opening the minds
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix are similar in the way that they both give us an understanding of how we can never really perceive our own reality and distinguish between what is real and what is not real by showing us how the people living in the Matrix world are living like being trapped in the cave, not knowing what reality actually is.