7;t worth while to even try to travel upwards?” 189. He still re-enters the cave and tries to describe the world above to all those who have not seen it. In some ways the persecution of those of higher philosophical enlightenment stretched to all forms of early education. Many have been persecuted for their ideas, only to end up correct a few hundred years later when science was able to prove them right. The ideas that the world was round, or that the planets actually revolved around the sun were ideas that were very widely rejected at first and most of the time criticized. These ideas, however, have been changed to scientific fact in the last few hundred years. At first one may think that the acceptance of this fact by the general population is a testament that sooner or later, everyone leaves the cave to see the truth about things. This is not the case, however. If you walked up to someone on the street and asked, “Is the world round or flat?” his or her answer would most likely be that the earth was round. It would sound as if they, and everyone else, had walked out of the cave to be immersed in the knowledge that the earth was round. This is incorrect, however. If you then asked them, “can you prove to me that the earth is round?” they would most likely not know how to. They have not walked out of the cave to gain this knowledge, but enough people have that an entire population is convinced of it. This is why Plato says that the enlightened philosopher must go back to the cave. To show people the truth, and though they might not truly know it themselves, they will be better off than when they were only seeing shadows on the wall.Plato’s theory of the Forms relates perfectly to the Allegory of the Cave. Plato describes all objects as merely poor representations of a true object, the Form. All things have forms, whether it be a desk, a cat, or a book. These objects, the objects we touch and feel are...
