e what is evil for him will be evil for all; therefore, when man has to make a decision, he values each choice on how much good will come out of them. Although in “The Allegory of the Cave,” good is not considered first but last and to get there is a long and tortuous journey. Once the good is seen, they will see everything of a higher realm which is the true reality and be aware that goodness is the origin of everything that exists. The narrator states, “...whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right...” (p. 1185). Instead of carefully making every decision of what is good, the very thought of goodness comes last. In Plato’s essay, to reach the goodness you have to find the enlightened path. Another difference between the two essays is the thought of the limitations of the unlighted and enlightened path and subjectivity. In “The Allegory of the Cave,” the prisoners have to struggle to understand and reach enlightenment. The escaped prisoner had to travel through the journey of the visible, image-making realm of the cave to the intelligible realm of reasoning and understanding. He was subject to transform between these two realms. At first he had to reason with what he saw outside the cave. It was hard for him in the beginning because, “when he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities” (p. 1184). It was difficult for him to go through the transition of dark to light or unlighted to the enlightened. But once he got used to the light, he could see the truth and understand that what he saw and what the other unlighted captives still see in the cave are actually an illusion. Although in “Existentialism” men...
