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Analyze Plato's allegory of the cave
The allegory of the cave by plato summary
The allegory of the cave by plato summary
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What is truly real, and what is not? This question is one which has been pondered deeply throughout human history, and it seemingly has no definitive answer. To understand what is truly a part of reality, and what isn’t, may be an impossible feat. However, two famous works created by humans from two distant time periods attempt to dissect and analyze this philosophical question. The first, The Allegory of the Cave, was written by the great Greek philosopher, Plato, who was born in 428 B.C. in Athens, Greece. The Allegory of the Cave is a piece of a larger work of Plato’s, The Republic, which is a collection of works concerning political philosophy. The Republic is his most famous work and what he is best known for in today’s world. The second …show more content…
In The Cave prisoners are chained, from birth, to face a wall within a dark cave. These prisoners have never had any interactions with the outside world. Their only understanding of the outside world comes from a bridge and a fire at their backs. When people, animals, or objects cross the bridge, the fire projects their shadows upon the cave wall which the prisoners are facing. To these prisoners, the obscure shadows which dance along the walls of the cave are the only “real” thing they know. To their brains, which have never experienced, seen, or came into any contact with anything in the outside world, this is reality. To the prisoners, reality is a jumble of dark shadows which occasionally move from one end of a cave wall to another. This is their perception of reality because it is all they have ever known. While The Matrix does not involve prisoners being chained to a cave wall, the ideas within it are very much the same as in The Cave. Neo, the main character in The Matrix, has unknowingly been living in the matrix his whole life. The matrix world is his reality much like the shadows on the cave wall are the prisoner’s reality. As the world outside of the cave is the true world for the prisoners, the true reality for Neo is the real world which exists outside of the matrix, which is a highly advanced …show more content…
Enlightenment is the main theme and driving force throughout the stories of The Cave and The Matrix. One slight difference between these two stories, however, is the attitude they have towards enlightenment. In the first acts of The Matrix, the audience sees Neo distressed over his computer once it begins to type and converse with him, which would be unheard of for a computer to do at the time this film was made. It is revealed that in his day-to-day life, Neo is a computer programmer. To go along with this he has an advanced ability to hack into areas of his computer and has been doing so for quite some time with the goal of unlocking the answers to something. He does not know exactly what he is looking for, but he knows something in the world is amiss and he has been actively searching for answers to confirm his beliefs. Later on in the movie, Trinity, a character who has already achieved enlightenment, tells Neo “It’s the question that drives us…” (The Matrix). This statement rings especially true for Neo as it was the question and feeling of, “what is wrong in the world,” which drives Neo to seek out the truth. Neo’s path to enlightenment begins with his desire to seek out the truth and see the world for what it truly is. This point is proven further after Neo learns of the matrix and the false world he has been living in. At this point in the movie, Morpheus, another enlightened character, presents
Plato’s allegory of the cave include the light, the objects, and the shadows. The novel named “The Picture of Dorian Grey” contains a purposeful meaning for each key component. In the cave, individuals are shown the shadows of puppets which they consider their reality; however, it’s only a “fake” representation of reality. Just as Dorian Grey’s beautiful appearance was merely a “fake” copy of himself when he was pure and innocent, it never disappeared because of his immortality. Yet, when the individuals have been shown the objects, they are skeptical about the “true” reality, not knowing that they are seeing the truth behind the shadows. Similar to the picture of Dorian Grey, which portrayed his ghastly appearance, contained his true-self
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” explains his beliefs on education of one’s soul and the core of the way they shape themselves. The rhetorical devices that Plato represents inside of his story explains how much freedom is worth in this world. The deeper meaning inside of what Plato describes can further be found out once a reader realizes the type of rhetorical devices are being used. For example, Plato portrays prisoners being locked inside of a cave without a way out. These prisoners never got to see the outside world, yet he mentions they “see shadows” which explains they are only able to catch a glimpse of reality from the outside. Plato’s use of imagery gives us a mental picture on the tease we may feel to notice reality but not be able to experience it. In reality, we do not value freedom as much as we are supposed to. We seem to not see the world as he sees it. With the help of personification, Plato uses human like characteristics to describe non-living things to give
Enlightenment is something people have strived for, personally, for generations. The knowing of information is essentially to people for everyday life. In the movie The Matrix as well as in the story The Allegory of the Cave, written by Plato, being enlightened is sought after. In The Matrix you see Neo trying to find out what's going on and how everything is happening, both to him and to the people around him. In The Allegory of the Cave you see the prisoner being let out of the cave trying to find out what's going on and what's happening in a new world they've never experienced. Altogether, The Matrix and The Allegory of the Cave show many similarities and differences in there characters, plot, and theme.
“ Here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so they cannot move” ( Plato 1). The mind of the individual is being taught the wrong things and they will just sit there and accept the false information. Similarity, Neo is in the world that he has known for his whole life and a man named Morpheus will guide him out of the dark world that he has been use to to finally see the light of things. When Neo is given the decision to either stay in the illusion world or to find out what is actually real. Morpheus says, “ All I 'm offering is the truth” (Matrix). The truth is what Neo wants, he knew from a long time that there was a Matrix, however he didn 't fully understand it. The truth is power to those who obtain the knowledge. Morpheus offers Neo a blue pill which sends him back to the world of illusion and a red pill which will show him what the Matrix is. Neo accepts the red pill and there was a Alice and Wonderland reference that Morpheus says, “Down the rabbit hole.” However there is no going back up the rabbit hole it 's a reverse of the story. Aristotle says, “The roots of education are bitter,but the fruit are sweet.” Neo knew this new information he was about to get will be unpleasant and he still he took the pill, to not step back into the illusion world. He awoke wrapped in wires and plugs connected in him. He was surrounded by a field of
The 1999 film, The Matrix, shows many philosophical instances. Comparing this film to Plato’s The Republic: The Allegory of the Cave, and Descartes’ First Meditation on Philosophy allows one to gain a deeper understanding of the work. Reality is a concept that may be vague to many people due to their given circumstances. The environment and the mind a person is in allows for different perceptions of reality. The power of reality falls in the eyes of the beholder. As shown in The Matrix, Neo was not the One until he believed he was, which can percept into everyday life; how someone thinks can affect how someone is.
Freedom in mind, freedom in nature, and freedom in subjectivity of individual are three kinds of freedoms. However, freedom should be expressed within the limits of reason and morality. Having freedom equals having the power to think, to speak, and to act without externally imposed restrains. As a matter of fact, finding freedom in order to live free is the common idea in Plato with "The Allegory of the Cave"; Henry David Thoreau with " Where I lived and What I lived for"; and Jean Paul Sartre with " Existentialism". Generally, Plato, Thoreau, and Sartre suggested that human life should be free. They differ in what that freedom is. Plato thinks it is found in the world of intellect, Thoreau thinks freedom is found in nature, and Sartre thinks freedom is found in subjectivity of individual.
In the contemporary world , culture refers to something as vast as the distinctive way of life of an entire community. Culture is everywhere and everyone has it; it is the mass of ideas, traditions, habits, stories, beliefs, and perspectives on life passed on to us from generation to generation through literature, language, art, myth, religion, family, and various other social institutions. Plato had many different ideas when it comes to human behavior and philosophy. Some of those things can be applied to today’s society, some of them can’t. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which is probably his most famous theory, as well as Krishnamurti’s essay on cultural conditioning of a mind, they both focus on cultural values and living within a culture and can still be seen in today’s society.
Many people rely on what we can see, touch, smell, and hear to be real and true; however there is also the question of how do we know that something is real and true? The world we live in could be made up, and we all could be living in a fantasy. What we, as humans, believe to be real and true could all be a lie. For example, in the Allegory of the cave, these prisoners believed that the stories projected on the wall were true. These stories were fake, but the prisoners believed it was true because that is all they had been taught. Until one is able to see the truth for himself. There could be a entirely different world that is beyond our imagination, and earth is just an imaginative figure that was made up. Allegory of the cave is one of Plato’s more famous
The Matrix reality is all ran simply by a computer. Neo, the main character lives in the computer generated reality but frees himself unlike the other people who continually are letting the computer run them. The computer is so powerful that it literally holds the minds of all the people, deceiving them of a reality that is not true. This can be compared to the prisoners in Plato’s cave analogy who are only know of one reality and allows it to run their mind. One difference between The Matrix and Plato’s cave analogy is the prisoners believe what they see without it being forced, whereas The Matrix is actually forced into the people’s mind.
Inside the cave the only knowledge that you can experience is the knowledge that is already installed into your head. In the cave viewpoint “The truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the image.”(Plato 450) M This quote explains that everything that is viewed in the cave is only a shadow of the real thing. But, the outside of the cave is made up of real images that can be hurtful “He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world” (Plato 451). This quote explains how humans need to adjust to new knowledge. At first, the outside of the cave is defined as unreal, because you are in denial that there is more to the world than just your cave. When one realizes the actual things that are present outside the cave one will want to spread the word and tell the other prisoners. But, one will not spread the word because the other prisoners will not be open to the knowledge. They will see your viewpoint as being insane do to the fact that they have not been exposed to the
Do we really understand the world we live in and see everyday? Is our everyday perception of reality a misinterpretation, which somehow we can’t break free from? A famous Greek philosopher by the name of Plato sought out to explain this in an experiment he called the Cave Allegory. I will discuss what the Cave Allegory is as well as talk about the movie Interstellar, which is a great example of Plato’s Cave Allegory and how it relates to Plato’s ideas. The question we have to answer first is, what is Plato’s Cave Allegory?
In conclusion, those in The Matrix were slaves and prisoners when they were connected to the virtual world. For Neo, he was as Plato’s prisoner, who only knew the shadows in the cave as his only reality. Neo realized the virtual world held no normalcy or illusions when he returned to it (he accepts that he is no longer Mr. Andersen, but Neo). He was able to perceive the world around him as a false one, the result of skepticism. Neo was also able to overcome his fears as well as the shock of what the true world had become by understanding the forms around him and thus gaining knowledge in order to fight back, which is a physical result of the causation of the mind. For many, questions arise: Is this world real or only illusion? How do we really know?
Through my study of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Saint Augustine’s “The Confessions”, I discovered that both text involve a journey of finding real truths before acquiring a faith. This suggests that faith and reason are compatible because one must embark on journey in which they are educated about real truths before they are able to acquire a faith.
The Matrix is a movie showing the main concepts of reality and truth and a basic aspect is Plato’s theory on reality which states that reality changes depending on something. In this movie this theory is implied to how Neo’s reality changes based on how he escaped from the matrix and noticed that the reality and perspective changed from a normal society to an apocalyptical world. This is a mixed aspect of truth and reality due to how the reality changes, based on Plato’s Theory, but also his perspective also changes on how he doubts if anything is actually true and real. Thi...
The people who are living in the Matrix are essentially the same people who are living in the cave. Figuratively the people in the Matrix are bound only able to see the shadows of what is going on but in reality they can’t see the truth of what is happening. Neo can break free with the red pill, allowing himself to see the true meaning of what is beyond the shadows. In The Matrix when he is able to see beyond it is a world run by artificial intelligence but according the Plato being able to see is seeing a true perfect meaning of an eternal object. This red pill lets Neo open his mind to look at everything he once knew to an epistemologist outlook making him question everything that knew. I believe that an argument that Plato would make about