Aiza M.

Buctot JULY 9, 2019

BSBA MM-1

Allegory of the cave

Plato’s “Allegory of the cave” is concerned about on how humans perceive things or the
truth in particular. It shows how we gain knowledge. Plato claims that truth from what we see
and hear are not real knowledge, and that there is another way of finding the truth which is
philosophical. The allegory shows how the cave, shadows, game, escape and return of the
prisoner symbolized different things a person would know if he/she would even try to look at
things differently.
The Allegory started with the three prisoners tied up by a chain inside a cave where the fire
behind them is the only source of light. They didn’t have any choice but to look at the wall in
front of them where they only see shadows as reflections of the things outside the cave. Because
they were chained, they have decided to have a game which is to guess what shadows would
appear next. The winner will be praised on how clever he is. The twist of the allegory was when
one of the prisoners escape and left the cave. He was shocked on what the world outside of the
cave is. As he begins to understand things, he realized that the world outside the cave is not real.
After his intellectual journey where he discovered beauty and meaning, he returned to the cave
and told the prisoners his discoveries. They didn’t believe him and told him that the world
outside corrupted his way of thinking. They even threatened to kill him if he tries to set them
free.
The allegory really made me think hard after reading it. It made me contemplate on a lot of
things. It also amazed me on how the minds of Socrates and Plato works. It is a good
representation on how a person should think or the kind of mentality that a person should have.
A person’s knowledge is not acquired only through the senses, the truth should be found in a
philosophical way. Not everything that we see and hear is the truth.
People should learn how to think out the box. We should not conform ourselves to what is
considered to be universal. There is no harm in trying to look for the answers in things that
makes us wonder. Going out of what is viewed to be a norm would not mean that you are
trying to break the rules. Feeding our curiosity is not bad thing because we are just fulfilling our
desires as a natural human being who are born curious.