Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Philosophy Allegory of the Cave Allegory of the Cave Plato was born in 427 B.C. and died in 347 B.C. He was a student of Socrates and during his studies wrote a complex and vivid book entitled “The Republic.” In it are numerous dialogues, which are a collection of Socrates teachings. One of the fables included is “The Allegory of the Cave.” This story is Plato’s explanation of the development of the soul toward enlightenment. He uses an analogy of hidden intricacies to describe a cave and what it would be like for an individual who has never seen anything but the cave, emerge to the surface and experience a new world. Plato begins his story by describing a dark cave. Inside the cave are many people who are tied up and unable to move. These individuals symbolize the uneducated. For their entire life these people have been restrained without even being able to rotate their heads. They have never seen anything apart from the wall in front of them. They know only of shadows that reflect from the wall. Eventually one of the prisoners is set free. The intention is to bring him out of the cave. This individual represents a student gaining knowledge. As he makes his way out, the sun blinds his eyes. Never before has he witnessed something so bright and intense. Plato writes that “the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows.” But in the course of time he grows accustomed to the light and begins to see unimaginable things. He is overwhelmed by all there is to see outside the cave. He finally understands that all of his life and all of his experiences were based upon shadows. No sooner does he understand this he is pushed back into the cave, even though he does not want to go. When he tells the others in the cave about what he has seen, they ridicule him. He can no more explain to them about the truth of the shadows then they can convince him that the only true form is the shadow. This stage shows how the uneducated now becomes the teacher. This story paints a quite vivid picture of the actual interaction of humans throughout the education process. “The Allegory of the Cave” is Plato’s explanation of what happens when someone is educated to the level of a philosopher. The story shows three distinct parts in the education process. First he tells us of an average person without knowledge, then how the uneducated gains knowledge as a student learning, and finally how the student takes his teaching back to the uneducated as the teacher. Plato does indeed get his point across to readers that knowledge comes from reasoning and understanding. I feel that his analogy of knowledge is straightforward and understandable for the time frame in which it was written. He gives us just enough detail in his writing to draw a mental picture of the individual and the three stages in which he goes through. The uneducated is bound and restrained, not being able to turn his head. The student gets a chance to see the light and things in its true forms. And finally the teacher that acts as the philosopher and brings teachings of a new world back for the uneducated to learn. It is almost as though he his writing of himself as a philosopher and how after gaining knowledge and returning to the people to teach, he is laughed at and ridiculed. When reading this story it appears as though Plato did not consider opposing viewpoints. He writes in a sense that he is right and there is no other way to accept the situation. Plato believed that one could only learn through reasoning and open mindedness. With this in mind he wrote an allegory to depicted just that. Bibliography: Plato. “The Allegory of Cave.” Available: http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/ republic29.htm (12 Feb. 2002) Word Count: 852
Copyright © 1998-2008 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved. DMCA Notifications and Requests