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Andrew Bickerton

Ms. Alapin

ENGL 220-023

2 October 2015

The Constructive Thinker: Making Sense of Plato’s Cave Allegory

“Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were

unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world

and the real world?” This quote from the film The Matrix touches on what Plato was examining

in his famous book The Republic. A long researched topic amongst scholars and intellectuals,

Plato’s Cave Allegory offers a metaphoric insight into man’s quest for knowledge and what one

could achieve in doing so. In this paper, I will explain what Plato was trying to convey in a way

that those new to the concepts of philosophy, perhaps more notably millennials, will easily

understand. By breaking down the Cave Allegory, I will provide you with a greater insight as to

how Plato viewed education and man’s role within it. You will gain a better insight into the

importance of Plato’s Cave Allegory and how it relates to our world today. A deeper

examination of Plato’s Cave Allegory will not only illustrate the significant benefits of acquiring

knowledge for oneself, but will also provide for a greater understanding and clarity of how he

felt education could enlighten and promote ourselves.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, philosophy is defined as “the study of the

fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an

academic discipline” (“philosophy”). It is important for students new to philosophy to keep this

definition in mind as they begin to explore the many different concepts and forms that it has to

offer. One of the most prominent educators in history was the Greek philosopher Plato, regarded
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as a highly renowned world figure for his contributions to education and Western philosophy.

Plato founded what is known as the Academy in Athens, Greece circa 387 BC. The Academy

was an institution for higher learning and philosophers would discuss various topics pertaining to

epistemology, which was the study of the theory of knowledge and how it can be acquired.

Although Plato explored many facets of education during his time, one of the most famous

concepts he was known for was The Allegory of the Cave.

In what is considered one of the great masterpieces of literature known to man, Plato’s

book The Republic, Plato addresses how man can come to obtain true enlightenment and

knowledge of the world. In Book VII of The Republic, Plato presents The Allegory of the Cave

as a metaphor in order to show man how to achieve this. It is important to recognize that the

Cave Allegory has been researched and discussed by many scholars and students for nearly

2,500 years. In that time, many interpretations of the Cave Allegory have been formulated. For

those new to the concepts of philosophical discussion, this can lead to a state of confusion and

perhaps even frustration. Explaining the Cave Allegory in a way that is easily understandable

and engaging will promote a deeper comprehension of what Plato was trying to illuminate to the

masses. It will also allow us to garner a substantial amount of insight and clarity on the matter.

The Cave Allegory is presented in Book VII of The Republic in a dialogue between

Socrates, who was Plato’s mentor and another founder of Western philosophy, and Glaucon,

Plato’s older brother. Socrates asks Glaucon to make an image in his mind of how we come to

know and want education for ourselves, likening it to a particular condition. “See human beings

as though they were in an underground cave-like dwelling with its entrance, a long one, open to

the light across the whole width of the cave. They are in it from childhood with their legs and

necks in bonds so that they are fixed, seeing only in front of them, unable because of the bond to
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turn their heads all the way around” (Bloom 193). Here, Socrates sets up his Cave Allegory to

further explain to Glaucon what it is that most people find to be true regarding the world. This

can become quite a burdensome task for students new to philosophy to comprehend, however.

Before further exploring the Cave Allegory, we need to briefly focus on Plato’s Theory of

Forms, specifically The Form of the Good in order to better our knowledge and understanding of

the Cave Allegory.

Plato uses The Form of the Good in the Cave Allegory to assert that the significant ideas

we have, and not those of worldly ideas known to us through our senses, are of the highest and

most primary kind of reality. In other words, we need to somehow reach the intelligible realm of

what is rather than being stagnant in our realm of passively being. We must also take into

consideration that The Form of the Good is only an ideal form of what Socrates was proposing to

Glaucon and that all Forms can never truly possess the Good at all times. Nonetheless, Socrates

introduces The Simile of the Sun which compares the Visible World to the Intelligible World.

This Visible World consists of that in which we only perceive objects and believe them to

be what they are through our senses. The Intelligible World consists of that in which we form our

knowledge and understanding of the world through invisible things, known as the Forms. What

this ultimately means is that The Form of the Good is found in the Intelligible World since our

thinking and knowledge of it provides us with a true realization of what the world actually is.

This is something we cannot achieve through the Visible World since it does not allow us to

question what we see. “Plato’s Form of the Good, then, is the ultimate principle of reality and

truth and is the source of all order, harmony, beauty, and intelligibility in the universe” (Russo

4). Although it generally takes those new to philosophy a few readings to begin understanding

the concepts it proposes, this brief explanation on The Form of the Good will help to illuminate
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what it is that Plato is trying to convey in his Cave Allegory and will also provide us with a

greater clarity regarding what he was trying to achieve with it.

Plato continues his description of the Cave Allegory in the dialogue between Socrates

and Glaucon, explaining how shadows on the wall create the illusion of reality. “Their light is

from a fire burning far above and behind them. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a road

above, along which see a wall, built like the partitions puppet-handlers set in front of the human

beings and over which they show the puppets” (Bloom 193). What Plato is portraying here is the

illusionistic way in which the prisoners are gaining knowledge. Although they can make out the

shapes of the shadows on the wall and even give names to them, their knowledge of them is only

based on that which is perceived through their senses and is in fact not reality at all. In the next

part of Plato’s description, he emphasizes how we can come to acquire true knowledge and an

understanding of reality by leaving the cave.

“If a prisoner is freed, and forced to turn around, he will see the people on the road and

then the fire. If he is then ‘dragged’ outside the cave – and he must be dragged, or drag himself,

because the process will be painful as he won’t be used to the light, he will experience reality as

it is, not as it seems in the cave” (Lacewing 65). Here, Plato examines the freed prisoner’s

experience in the Intelligible World and will explain how the prisoner comes to gain a clear

understanding of true reality for the first time. As students of philosophy, we can begin to clearly

understand what it is that Plato is trying to exemplify; that once we are exposed to the Intelligible

World, knowledge of it in its true form is finally illuminated.

“Then I suppose he’d have to get accustomed, if he were going to see what’s up above.

At first he’d most easily make out the shadows; and after that the phantoms of the human beings

and the other things in water; and, later, the things themselves. And from there he could turn to
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beholding the things themselves. And from there he could turn to beholding the things in heaven

and heaven itself, more easily at night – looking at the light of the stars and the moon – than by

day – looking at the sun and sunlight” (Bloom 195). The prisoner is finally beginning to

understand what true reality is and what the Intelligible World consist of. Although the prisoner

would be disoriented at first, his eyes would slowly adjust to his new environment. He would

begin to see reflections in the water and objects for what they actually are as opposed to the

shadows he previously thought were the true forms of the world. Eventually, the freed prisoner

would also see the sun which is the ultimate Form of the Good since it gives everything life and

illuminates true reality.

In obtaining this new found knowledge, the prisoner would no doubt want to share what

it is that he has learned with the other prisoners still chained up in the cave. “If such a man were

to come down again and sit in the same seat, on coming suddenly from the sun wouldn’t his eyes

get infected with darkness? …wouldn’t he be the source of laughter, and wouldn’t it be said of

him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it’s not even worth trying to

go up? And if they were somehow able to get their hands on and kill the man who attempts to

release and lead up, wouldn’t they kill him?” (Bloom 195-196). The fellow prisoners would not

believe his experience “so convinced are they that shadows they experience inside the cave are

the only true reality” (Russo 6). Here, Plato portrays how the prisoners would indeed be hostile

to that which questioned their own false understanding of reality. Thus the Cave Analogy is used

by Plato to portray what it is like to try to educate the often ignorant public on what the true form

of reality actually is.

The Cave Allegory encompasses the various analogies that Plato presented in order to

better explain his view of the world. In conjuncture with the Form of the Good, the Cave
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Allegory serves as a means for students of philosophy to begin to acquire a deeper knowledge

and clarity of the world and what it was that Plato was trying to get at. “Those who are enamored

with the world of images are like the prisoners in the cave, completely caught up with images

they perceive to be real. The man who breaks free of his chains is the philosopher who, using his

intellect ascends out of the cave (out of the world of the senses and into the world of the forms).

(Russo 7). This conclusion provides us with a deeper clarity and insight into the world of

philosophy and what it represents; that of an understanding that man can only be liberated from

the bonds of controlled thinking when he finally recognizes reality and knowledge for what it

truly is.

The Cave Allegory serves as a philosophical examination of how we come to acquire true

knowledge for ourselves, recognizing that the world is not always what it may seem. Plato’s

Cave Allegory, through its use of metaphorical explanation, provides students with a greater

clarity about how we view the world and what true reality consists of. Although the Cave

Allegory can be challenging to comprehend at first, students who persist in exploring Plato’s

many dialogues will find great value within them. By means of further exploration and

questioning of that which surrounds us, students can achieve a greater embodiment of productive

thinking and thoughtful enlightenment of the world. Plato’s Cave Allegory acts as a template to

achieve this exploration and it will continue to promote scholarly thought for many generations

to come.
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Works Cited

Bloom, Alan. The Republic of Plato. 2nd Ed. New York: Basic Books, 1991. Print.

Lacewing, Michael. Philosophy for A2: Unit 4: Plato’s Similes of the Cave and the Divided Line.
London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2009. PDF file. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

“Philosophy.” Oxford English Dictionary. England: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Oxforddictionaries.com. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.

Russo, Michael S. Plato in a Nutshell: A Beginner’s Guide to the Philosophy of Plato. New
York: Sophia Omni Press, 2014. PDF file. Web. 14 Sept. 2015.

The Matrix. Dirs. Andy & Lana Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-
Anne Moss. Warner Brothers. 1999. DVD.