Platos Analogy of the Cave

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Plato’s Analogy Of The Cave The prisoners represent the ignorant, narrow minded society. They have no understanding of anything other than what they see. Their chains hold them back from the truth and they can only understand when they are released. The shadows fool the prisoners in to not seeing things in their true form, making them misinterpret what they see. The fire represents the truth to the narrow minded. It has the power of the sun but can fool the mind. The prisoner who releases the captives is the saviour and the educator, trying to free the others from their ignorance. They can only be truly free when accept reality in its true form. He leads them from the cave and shows them reality, challenging all they have ever known. Returning to the cave the prisoners reject what he has shown them, although the saviour realises he cannot go back to his former vision. He becomes an outcast with knowledge without friends. The difference between the fire and the sun is key to understanding the analogy. The light of the fire gave the prisoners their limited vision, showing only shadows, whereas the brightness of the sun allowed and expansive view of reality. To conclude, the cave represents the narrow minded and uneducated and being led into the light opens up the mind, although there are still shadows and questions, in the never ending thirst for knowledge. It is typical of Plato’s theory that the world as we know it is based on what are conditioned to perceive rather than
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