s are to bring him out of the cave. As they lead him past the fire and he sees the others casting shadows on the wall he is dumb founded. He cannot comprehend what is happening as they push him further, out of the cave. As he emerges from the cave the sun blinds him. Never before has he witnessed something so bright and intense. Eventually he grows accustomed to the light and begins to see things. He sees trees and birds. He sees houses and people. He is taken back by all there is outside of the cave. He sees a book and then notices it’s shadow. He finally understands that all of his life and all of his experiences were based on shadows, images of things real. No sooner does he understand this than the others try to push him back into the cave. He doesn’t want to go, however. He has seen a new and fuller world. The others finally push him back into the cave and as he tells the others of the world above they mock him. They make fun of him because all that he says is nonsense to them. Their reality still exists as shadows. He can no more explain to them about the true form of the book than they can convince him that the only true form is the shadow. He has now become completely insane to them and if given the chance they would kill him. Plato’s story describes for us both the process of education and it’s positives and negatives. This story paints a quite vivid picture of the actual interaction of humans throughout the education process. When Plato wrote this story, he was mainly thinking about a philosophical education, however, in some ways this tale tells the story of the beginnings of all education. The philosophical education that Plato speaks of is that which he lays out in The Republic. Plato tells this tale in order to show people what truly happens to the philosopher. In his day, Plato saw many such as Socrates find a higher truth through education and philosophy. He then saw these people try to bring this...
