Allegory Of The Cave Thesis

530 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of plato's allegory of the cave

Ankit Pandey (1511662)
Essay Author: Plato
Essay Title: The Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave was presented by the Greek philosopher Plato. In this essay, he distinguishes between the people who mistake visual knowledge for the truth and who really see the truth. In the cave in his essay, the citizen never see reality. They only see the shadows on the wall. They have never seen anything else in their life so they assume that the shadows are the reality. The purpose of education is the same. To get out of the cave and move closer to the truth than we were before.
The audience for this essay are students, parents, and teachers who seek knowledge in their daily life. It is also addressed to the people who are living in ignorance. The cave dwellers are humans before philosophy, the sun is the light of reason, the isolation of returned philosopher is what all the truth tellers can expect when they take their knowledge back to people who have not devoted themselves to thinking. And, this particular thinking can be applied to all humans as we tend not to understand the true reality of our world.
The thesis of the essay is that unless we become educated about the outside world, we are like the people chained inside the cave, …show more content…

He uses descriptive writing to help us form a visual picture of the events inside and outside the cave. Like the dark cave, the damp wall inside wall, the passing of people and animals, the sounds made by different things, the smells of objects, the bright light of sun upon the eye. As an example, he uses the story of people chained inside a cave to convey his message to his audiences. He compares the people who are known to the truth, who tore their curtains of ignorance and finally embrace the truth to the people who are still hiding behind their ignorance and are used to the fiction. Those are the people who are tied to their own unreal reality and can't face the light of

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Plato's Allegory Of The Cave By Mumford And Sons

    280 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and the song “The Cave,” by Mumford and Sons, they both treat the metaphor of a cave as a dark, bad, and evil antagonist that restricts you from seeing the truth and reaching your full potential. The cave can be seen as a permanent chain or an opportunity for change.

    Read More

  • Response To The Allegory Of The Cave

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, shows the contrast between sense experience and rationalism. The story explains that in the cave where some people have known nothing of the outside world and can only comprehend what they see based on what little they do know of their cave. The people have come to the conclusion what the shapes represent and what causes them and believe it to be correct and thus believe it as the reality of the world. However what they don’t know is that this is not the world and what they will soon find out is that the things they once saw with their eyes what they smelt, what they heard, what they felt were just shadows of real images and objects cast on the wall by fire. What this does is show that sense experience can be at fault because the one perceiving is at times is ignorant of the fact that they know nothing of the true reality of the world and its workings. One must be showed how things are in order to learn and thus no longer be ignorant but have now begun taking steps towards wisdom.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Propaganda

    336 Words  | 1 Pages

    Only one prisoner can understand the truth, but what about outside of the story. In The allegory of the Cave one prisoner is let free and forced up and is allowed to see what real life is like, and it is completely different from what he already knew. When the other prisoner’s see him, the other prisoner’s think he is delusional. This is similar to politicians switching parties or displaying opinions that differ from their party. The Allegory teaches a tremendously strong lesson, regardless of age, it can still be applied to modern day propaganda.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Essay

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    The "Allegory of the cave "is broken down into four levels. The cave itself representing the tunnel we as humans have dug for ourselves away from the world of learning and knowledge to a world of safe answers where nothing is ever questioned . The cave represents the human's subconscious struggle to be safe and hide from the unknown. Beginning with Level one . The shadow watchers(the mystified )Illusion the figures and shadows reflection on the cave wall.This level is best described as such because the prisoners are not seeing what is real .They are seeing a copy or illusion of what is the real.They are seeing what they want to see.Level two The shadow casters .I believe the shadow casters area people who realize that the world is not as it

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Research Paper

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    American’s education system has been entering crisis mode for a long time. Throughout the past few years, the overwhelming question “Is college needed or worth it?” While it is an opinion, there are facts that back up each answer. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” mentions that the enlightened must help the unenlightened and further their knowledge. The problem with America today is that high school students are given the option of college and that makes for less enlightened people. While it is possible to learn in the work force or Army, college is a better option. Mary Daly wrote the article “Is It Still Worth Going to College?” which talks about the statistical value of attending. Michelle Adam wrote the article “Is College Worth It?” which mentions the struggle young people are going through to even get into college. Caroline Bird wrote the chapter “Where College Fails Us” in her book The Case Against College where she

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    No matter how hard society and our minds try to forsake our quest for knowledge for the pleasure of ignorance, knowledge always triumphs. It must, if we as a society want to move on and continue to kindle new ideas. Works Cited Bradbury, Ray. A. A. Fahrenheit - 451 degrees Fahrenheit. New York:

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mos Def's Black Star

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Once eaten, man became “fallen” and subject to the struggles of Earthly life. Similarly, knowledge and all other pursuits are tempting, yet dangerous as they often lead us to unpleasant

    Read More

  • Naguib Mahfouz' Fountain and Tomb

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, in Naguib Mafouz’s Fountain and Tomb, we are faced with a central theme of Truth. It can be reasoned that most of the time the Truth (or knowledge) isn’t always something that it is necessary to know. The Truth can bring about happiness, prosperity, or a positive affect, but that seems to happen much less frequently. Sometimes being ignorant of the Truth is better because it makes lives easier and happier. People don’t necessarily need to know everything (the whole Truth), because what they don’t know can’t really hurt them. Truth comes with excess baggage, and it sometimes leads to conflict, hurt feelings, alienation, or broken hearts. As the old saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss.” Fountain and Tomb does an excellent job of illustrating that cliche.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Analysis

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Allegory of The Cave, Plato states that "the prison world is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief". Everything described in the Allegory of The Cave holds a double meaning as a symbol for something else; the prison world symbolizes our world and the fire casting shadows on the walls of the cave is in actuality the sun. Only the sun isn 't just the sun, it is a representation of the good and the truth in this world. When one reaches this level of enlightenment, according to Plato they not only find the truth of their existence, but they also find the good in life, and

    Read More

  • Plato and Bacon

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a story being told by Socrates to Plato’s brother, Glaucon. Socrates tells of prisoners in an underground cave who are made to look upon the front wall of the cave. To the rear of the prisoners, below the protection of the parapet, lie the puppeteers whom are casting the shadows on the wall in that the prisoners are perceiving reality. Once a prisoner is free, he's forced to look upon the fire and objects that once determined his perception of reality, and he so realizes these new pictures before of him are now the accepted forms of reality. Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and the way they might naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they need perpetually seen as a pleasing and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief."

    Read More

  • Plato And Francis Bacon And Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, Plato’s Allegory of the cave is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon and its main purpose, as Plato states is to, “show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened.”(Plato) The dialogue includes a group of prisoners who are captive in a cave and chained down, only with the ability to stare straight at a wall. This wall, with the help of a fire, walkway, and people carrying different artifacts and making sounds, create a shadow and false perception of what is real. This concept here is one of the fundamental issues that Plato brings up in the reading. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” (Plato). These prisoners, being stuck in this cave their entire life have no other option but to believe what they see on the wall to be true. If they were to experience a real representation of the outside world they would find it implausible and hard to understand. “When any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up a...

    Read More

  • Ignorance In Elie Wiesel's Cave

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    While in the cave there are prisoners chained facing the front of the cave. They would watch shadows which is all that they know. For them these shadows are reality, this is what they live for, this is their knowledge. One prisoner is fortunate enough to become loose from his chains and is able to look at the world outside of the cave. Although it took sometime for the prisoner to become used to life outside the cave he eventually did.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Essay

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Education In Allegory Of The Cave

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    The educational ideology illustrated in The Allegory of the Cave proposes teaching as a process of conversion which can bring about true enlightenment. The allegory introduces two kinds of bewilderments: one is the ascent from the primitive state to a more sophisticated state; the other the descent from the beatific vision to human affairs. We shall call one lucky if he is experiencing the former one and pity those who belong to the latter one. However whichever

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave paints a picture of a system used by Plato to explain his ideas on intelligence and learning. In the deepest part of the cave there are people chained to chairs in a way that forces them to stare at the far wall and renders them incapable of turning their heads. Behind the prisoners there is a short barrier with a fire burning on the other side. Between the barrier and the fire there are puppets casting shadows on the far wall that the chained people are looking at.

    Read More

More about Allegory Of The Cave Thesis

Open Document