Unveiling Plato’s Allegory: Journey from Ignorance to Enlightenment

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In his famous “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato describes the journey to knowledge and truth, explaining how we come to know reality and why it is that some people are unable to attain true knowledge. In this essay I will be unfolding Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and explaining the prisoner’s journey from darkness (ignorance) to enlightenment (truth), explaining the philosophical view on reality versus belief and the process someone undergoes to achieve enlightenment.
The reader is brought into a philosophical conversation between Socrates and Glaucon where it is told that inside a dark cave there are prisoners, “…human beings living in a underground den…here they have been from their childhood…theirs legs and necks chained so they cannot move and can only see before them” (Plato, p. 1). Since the prisoners are incapable of moving for both their legs and necks are held in place by chains allowing them to only see what is in front of them. The prisoners are controlled by these chains grasping around their necks, preventing them from turning their heads and acknowledging the world and what lies around them - restricting their access to true understanding. It is further described that “Above and …show more content…

In other words, he is more comfortable with his ignorance - the only thing he has known thus far. But those who go beyond the cave of darkness (ignorance) can achieve enlightenment, the light, coming to the true reality of what is real. “This is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world and in a certain way the cause of all things…” (p. 3). The prisoner has been led to the sun and reached enlightenment. He has experienced new things and now sees the sun as the cause of all things. He understands now that the sun is the basis of life and it governs all life outside the

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