Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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Human Freedom

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.

Plato found freedom in the world of intellect. Let's take a look at his quote:

"The prison house is the world of sight, the light of fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret, the journey upwards to be ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed- whether rightly or wrongly god knows." According to Plato, "the prison house" is an endless dark cave for prisoners who were unable to turn from darkness to light. It is also the place where they could see the shadow of the real world. "Sight", of course, becomes an abstract word in this quote. Its universal definition is the ability to see or the act of seeing thing. In other words, using the conceptual primitives which reduce the complex meaning to its core form "sight" redefined as, to see with eyes. In Indo- European, the root word of sight is sekw-2 .The concrete word of sight is spec...

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...ar idea with Stephen; they both wanted to do anything and create their own human nature, and our value of freedom through those free choices. Generally, Sartre suggested that men have freedom to construct their nature and essence through their actions.

Plato, Thoreau, and Sartre suggested that human life should be free. They had different points of view about freedom, but combining Plato's freedom in mind, Thoreau's freedom in nature, and Sartre's freedom in subjectivity of individual gives people the clear and perfect image of freedom. Understanding freedom is the first step to find freedom in the real life. So in relevant, college students have freedom to think critically. Students' freedom is able to study whatever they want, and find out their own roads to the bright future. However, how to use correctly freedom is the hard question to students in this real life.

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