THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE BY PLATO

THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE BY PLATO

The Allegory of the Cave is an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic. It is related to Plato's metaphor of the sun (507b–509c) and the analogy of the divided line (509d–513e), which immediately precede it at the end of Book 6. The allegory of the cave is also commonly known as Myth of the Cave, Metaphor of the Cave or the Parable of the Cave.

It is an extended allegory, where humans are depicted as being imprisoned by their bodies and what they perceive by sight only. In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato plays with the notion of what would occur if people suddenly encountered the divine light of the sun, and perceived ‘true’ reality.

In the beginning of the Allegory of the Cave, Plato represents man’s condition as being ‘chained in a cave,’ with only a fire behind him. He perceives the world by watching the shadows on the wall. He sits in darkness with the false light of the fire and does not realize that this existence is wrong or lacking. It merely is his existence ó he knows no other nor offers any complaint.

Plato next imagines in the Allegory of the Cave what would occur if the chained man was suddenly released from his bondage and let out into the world. Plato describes how some people would immediately be frightened and want to return to the cave and the familiar dark existence. Others would look at the sun and finally see the world as it truly is.

They would know their previous existence was farce, a shadow of truth, and they would come to understand that their lives had been one of deception. A few would embrace the sun, and the true life and have a far better understanding of ‘truth.’ They would also want to return to the cave to free the others in bondage, and would be puzzled by people still in the cave who would not believe the now ‘enlightened’ truth bearer. Many would refuse to acknowledge any truth beyond their current existence in the cave.

Symbols And Their Interpretations

The man in the Allegory of the Cave refers to us. In the beginning, the world we know was that place inside the cave. The shadows that we see were the things that we believe to be true, we believed that that was the. The man, or we, were then, released and given a chance to go out of the ‘world’ we once knew. We were given the chance to be enlightened and to realize that what we believed in the past were somewhat all lies. The sun in the story was the truth, the real truth that once we don’t know. Some of us will receive the knowledge and embrace the truth. Those who believed would want to return in the cave to share about the truth.

The ‘enlightened ones’ will tell the others about the ‘world’ outside, which for us is the real world or the reality, but the people inside will reject the truth. They will still believe in what they used to believe, and would still prefer darkness. The ‘enlightened ones’, who are used to the light outside, will take time to be accustomed to the darkness inside the cave, and might stumble, which the people inside will think that the ‘truth’ that he believed ruined him. In other words, when we will try to share what we’ve experienced, there are times that we will be wrong and people who don’t believe will conclude that the ‘truth’, which the man acquired only made him wrong.

Other Explanations

The myth of the cave describes individuals chained deep within the recesses of a cave. Bound so that vision is restricted, they cannot see one another. The only thing visible is the wall of the cave upon which appear shadows cast by models or statues of animals and objects that are passed before a brightly burning fire. Breaking free, one of the individuals escapes from the cave into the light of day. With the aid of the sun, that person sees for the first time the real world and returns to the cave with the message that the only things they have seen are shadows and appearances and that the real world awaits them if they are willing to struggle free of their bonds. The shadowy environment of the cave symbolizes for Plato the physical world of appearances. Escape into the sun-filled setting outside the cave symbolizes the transition to the real world, the world of full and perfect being, the world of Forms, which is the proper object of knowledge. Plato established the Forms as arranged hierarchically; the supreme Form is the Form of the Good, which, like the sun in the myth of the cave. There is a sense in which the Form of the Good represents Plato's movement in the direction of an ultimate principle of explanation. Ultimately, the theory of Forms is intended to explain how one comes to know and also how things have come to be as they are. In philosophical language, Plato's theory of Forms is a theory of knowledge and a theory of being. The cave is the world; the fetters are the imagination; the shadows of ourselves are the passive states which we know by thinking. The learned in the cave are those who possess empirical forms of knowledge (who know how to make predictions, the doctors who know how to cure people by using empirical methods, those who know what is going on, etc.). Their knowledge is nothing but a shadow. Education, he says, is, according to the generally accepted view of it, nothing but the forcing of thoughts into the minds of children.

Lesson or Central Message of The Allegory of the Cave

Truth must be experienced rather than told because language fails to convey belief. Language is the barest shadow of reality. People who are firmly committed to a religious view often echo this statement. Faith can’t be given to other people, but must be experienced.

The Allegory of the Cave also represents an extended metaphor for the state of human existence, and for the transformation that occurs during philosophical enlightenment. When the light of the sun shines on the freed man, this is allegory for enlightenment and perception of the truth. The minor concerns of the world as he has viewed it previously are now seen as falsely held perception and he is eager to share enlightenment with others.

Also, for Plato, each person has within himself the ability to think. If one does not understand, this is because one is held by the chains. Whenever the soul is bound by the chains of suffering, pleasure, etc. it is unable to contemplate through its own intelligence the unchanging patterns of things. No doubt, there are mathematicians in the cave, but their attention is given to honors, rivalries, competition, etc. If anyone is not able to understand the unchanging patterns of things, that is not due to a lack of intelligence; it is due to a lack of moral stamina. In order to direct one's attention to the perfect patterns of things, one has to stop valuing things which are always changing and not eternal. One can look at the same world, which is before our eyes, either from the point of view of its relation to time, or from that of its relationship to eternity. Education means turning the soul in the direction in which it should look, of delivering the soul from the passions. Plato's morality is: Do not make the worst possible mistake of deceiving yourself. We know that we are acting correctly when the power of thinking is not hindered by what we are doing. To do only those things which one can think clearly, and not to do those things which force the mind to have unclear thoughts about what one is doing.

Relationship of the Allegory of the Cave to Plato’s Theory of Knowledge

Plato's theory of knowledge is found in the Republic, particularly in his discussion of the image about the myth of the cave. Plato distinguishes between two levels of awareness: opinion and knowledge. The myth of the cave describes individuals chained deep within the recesses of a cave. Escape into the sun-filled setting outside the cave symbolizes the transition to the real world, the world of full and perfect being, the world of Forms, which is the proper object of knowledge. Plato established the Forms as arranged hierarchically; the supreme Form is the Form of the Good, which, like the sun in the myth of the cave. There is a sense in which the Form of the Good represents Plato's movement in the direction of an ultimate principle of explanation. Ultimately, the theory of Forms is intended to explain how one comes to know and also how things have come to be as they are. In philosophical language, Plato's theory of Forms is a theory of knowledge and a theory of being. The cave is the world; the fetters are the imagination; the shadows of ourselves are the passive states which we know by thinking. The learned in the cave are those who possess empirical forms of knowledge (who know how to make predictions, the doctors who know how to cure people by using empirical methods, those who know what is going on, etc.). Their knowledge is nothing but a shadow. Education, he says, is, according to the generally accepted view of it, nothing but the forcing of thoughts into the minds of children. For, says Plato, each person has within himself the ability to think. If one does not understand, this is because one is held by the chains. Education means turning the soul in the direction in which it should look, of delivering the soul from the passions. Plato's morality is: Do not make the worst possible mistake of deceiving yourself. We know that we are acting correctly when the power of thinking is not hindered by what we are doing. To do only those things which one can think clearly, and not to do those things which force the mind to have unclear thoughts about what one is doing. That is the whole of Plato's morality.