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Plato is a Greek philosopher and is considered one of the greatest thinkers of all time. The Allegory is part of Plato’s renowned philosophical work The Republic. A synopsis from Wikipedia: Plato has Socrates (another Greek thinker and Plato's teacher) describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners’ reality.
The light/fire is knowledge in the purest sense.
The low wall represents the prejudice and biases that we have. The shadows are the false impressions we have within and among ourselves.
Like how the prisoners were not allowed to move their heads, our limitations, either imposed by others or self-inflicted, hiders us from reaching a better understanding.
Like the prisoners who try to name what was actually before them, we merely give false perceptions and interpretations because of our misconceptions.
The prisoners came to be released and walked towards the light but suffer pain. In the same effect, encountering the truth and pure knowledge of things along with their reasons will cause one a great amount of distress. It is hard to separate ourselves from long-held prejudice and biases.
Like the other prisoners who maintain the superiority of the shadows over the actual object, we might stick to a false belief and refuse to see the true nature of things
The pain of knowing and experiencing the truth will often repel us,
On the “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato by Leandro Angelo Castro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Allegory is the way Plato is relating his theory of Forms. To the best of my understanding, the theory says that the forms are the "essential" things that our senses fail to perceive. These forms are eternal truth or reality, as opposed to the "illusions" that we experience through our senses. Everything has its form. Knowing and understanding the nature of forms is a way to escape the illusionary existence and know the truth within one's self.
Upon reading the Allegory, I made my own reflection:
The light/fire is knowledge in the purest sense.
The low wall represents the prejudice and biases that we have. The shadows are the false impressions we have within and among ourselves.
Like how the prisoners were not allowed to move their heads, our limitations, either imposed by others or self-inflicted, hiders us from reaching a better understanding.
Like the prisoners who try to name what was actually before them, we merely give false perceptions and interpretations because of our misconceptions.
The prisoners came to be released and walked towards the light but suffer pain. In the same effect, encountering the truth and pure knowledge of things along with their reasons will cause one a great amount of distress. It is hard to separate ourselves from long-held prejudice and biases.
Like the other prisoners who maintain the superiority of the shadows over the actual object, we might stick to a false belief and refuse to see the true nature of things
The pain of knowing and experiencing the truth will often repel us,
“the pain in [the prisoner’s] eyes will make him turn away to take refuge in the objects of vision which he can see.”
Realities (pure knowledge, truth, and reason) are inconceivable at first.
To gain understanding, one must approach pure knowledge gradually, like the released prisoner who in time was able to notice the light of the sun at first, then his reflection, until he notices the things around him. It takes time and effort to change and correct our views.
The prisoner learned to argue against those who refuse to see the true meaning of things, and like him, we must use our faculties to synchronize our thought with the path of true knowledge and show the beauty of truth to those who refuse it.
Gaining understanding will move us to consider the limitations of others. The old companions of the cave are piteous to those who are freed from their bondage. We should accept that not everyone are ready to accept the truth and refuse knowledge and wisdom, as with those who prefer the illusions inside the cave
To gain understanding, one must approach pure knowledge gradually, like the released prisoner who in time was able to notice the light of the sun at first, then his reflection, until he notices the things around him. It takes time and effort to change and correct our views.
The prisoner learned to argue against those who refuse to see the true meaning of things, and like him, we must use our faculties to synchronize our thought with the path of true knowledge and show the beauty of truth to those who refuse it.
Gaining understanding will move us to consider the limitations of others. The old companions of the cave are piteous to those who are freed from their bondage. We should accept that not everyone are ready to accept the truth and refuse knowledge and wisdom, as with those who prefer the illusions inside the cave
“… would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions... ”The prisoners remaining in the cave will catch those who will try to lose another and lead them up to the light, and even put them to death if he persists in his beliefs. Those who will stand up with truth, reason, and knowledge will be ridiculed and persecuted.
“… the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun… in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort… when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he would act rationally …”
In the end, truth and reality must prevail, and we must persevere to make it happen.
Image by Jeremy Bishop on Pexels
On the “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato by Leandro Angelo Castro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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