Name: Jacob Kennedy A.

Lipura Subject: Introduction to Philosophy of the Human Person

Section: STEM 11-8 Dignity Date: 9/07/2021

Reflection Paper on “The Allegory of the Cave”

The ‘Allegory of The Cave’ is a theory put forward by Plato, concerning

human perception. Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is no
more than opinion and that, in order to have real knowledge, we must gain it
through philosophical reasoning. It dictates that a man is only as educated as his
surroundings and cannot learn without guidance and teachings. In the dialogue
between Socrates and his student, Glaucon, Socrates described the whole situation
in the cave wherein there is one person who freed to seek out the real truth behind
those shadows that they see in the wall. My first experience watching about the
Allegory of the Cave was very challenging and difficult. I struggled to understand
what I was watching or what was going on. A lot of words were confusing and the
visual representations were hard to understand. However, when I watched it again
and go over the Allegory, I began to understand the words, visual representations
and phrasing that was referring to what Plato used.
Using the allegory, Plato pictures the everyday situation of man. He can
speak, hear, and encounter the world without actually being aware of the world of
Ideas. 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. In “The Allegory of the Cave”, the dark and isolated cave is illustrating
how we as humans see the world around us and how knowledge can lead us out of
obscurity. In the cave, everything is accepted as the truth because it is visible to the
human eye. The allegory started with 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. However, the twist of the allegory was
when one of the prisoners escaped and left the cave. He was shocked on what the
world outside of the cave. He was able to seek out a far truer reality and attempts to
bring his newfound knowledge back to the prisoners of the darkness, who only see
it as absurdity and treason to their beliefs. 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.
Reflecting on “The Allegory of the Cave”, I can’t help but wonder what my
decision would be if I was in this same situation. I want to be able to confidently
say that given the chance, I would take the risk of leaving the cave and go out to
experience everything I had missed, yet I do understand why the prisoners chose to
stay and their reasoning is something I can relate to. I constantly try to put on a
facade of indifference-I just go with the flow, do what I want when I want, and
never care what others think about me. However, it takes a lot of effort for me to
take big risks because it makes me nervous when I don’t know exactly how things
are going to turn out. Although it has gotten a lot better over the years, I still often
cling to the comfortability of what I know. In situations like these, you never know
what your answer will be until it is happening in the moment and you have to make
the decision. For me, I can only hope I would choose the light. It would be the right
choice for me. People should learn how to think out of 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 a bad thing because we are just fulfilling our desires as a natural
human being who are born curious.