Exploring Human Perception: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

The definition of an allegory is a narrative or description that uses symbols to convey an implicit meaning. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the cave represents humans and how they are so accustomed to their environment and cannot see the world for what it really is. People refuse to believe that there is another part of the world they are missing out on because of the attachment to their current environment. In the allegory, one of the prisoners escapes and see’s the world for what it really is, and comes back to tell the others what he has seen, but they don’t believe him and refuse to accept the idea of a world different than theirs. This is comparable to how humans become so dependent on their current situation and what they have already

What often prevents us from leaving our cave is fear, as we are so scared of failing in our society and being looked at in a certain way. We can help control this fear by acquiring new skills and trying different things, although this will be unusual at first, we will eventually become more comfortable and relaxed as time goes on. Humans follow the same routine everyday, whether it’s going to school, or going to work. We get to these places at the same time every morning, and leave at the same time every day. This makes it difficult to step out of the cave because so much of our lives is based on routine and environment’s we are familiar with. However, we can still try new things so our life doesn’t become so repetitive, like maybe taking a different route to school or work one day, or becoming involved in a club or team. We as individuals have the ability to do whatever we want and are open to anything that may interest us, it just depends on if we have the motivation to do things differently for a

In Plato’s allegory, the light is a metaphor for truth and knowledge, as the prisoner is finally learning what the world really consists of and the true nature of life. Education gives us a sense of purpose and helps us with things like communication, knowledge, history, and math, guiding us towards a meaningful and knowledgeable life. Plato once said “we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” He is saying that people who are still afraid of learning different things and acquiring knowledge after they grow up, are the real tragedy. The ‘light’ is what motivates us to learn and become educated about different environment’s and realizing out true potential. If education was the cave, we would only be learning one thing in the same environment, with no opportunity to learn other things, just like the prisoners who only see shadows their whole lives. One of the best things about education is the variety of different courses we can choose to take, and learn about more than one area of interest. Education does not trap or keep us isolated, it helps us learn about all kinds of different things and encourages us to ask questions and learn about different places and