Assignment 1 : Plato The Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave starts off as a story told by Socrates to Glaucon. In this story,a group of people live in an underground cave. They are bounded and unable to move or turn their heads because they are chained, and so they can only look straight in front of them. In front there is a wall and behind them a fire burns. Others in the cave pass before the fire holding objects which cast shadows on the wall. They perceive the world by watching the shadows on the wall. They sit in darkness with the false light of the fire and do not realize that this existence is wrong or lacking. It merely is their existence. According to Socrates, the idea of the world for prisoners is limited within the boundaries of the cave. The shadows are treated as real objects and there are wannabe intellectuals who claim to understand the world based on these shadows. The fact is the prisoners are not able to perceive the truth of nature because of their limited view. Moving on with the description, Socrates says that if somehow a prisoner manages to break the chains and escapes from the cave, the world he gets to see outside goes beyond his understanding. He; like all the prisoners, is familiar to dim light at first he cannot see clearly because his eyes dazzle in the light. But if he stays in the outer world, gradually he begins to identify everything and he realizes that the outer world is the real world and the cave world is the unreal world. As the prisoner returns back to the cave, he feels his moral responsibility to make others aware of the truth he has just learned. He tries to persuade his mates that outside there is a more real world, and what all has been seen by them are simple shadows of the real objects. But the prisoners try to resist explanation and judge him for the moral misbehaviour and loss of ethical values.

Naheed Al Quraishi

2009-0009

The creativity of Plato, along with his deep understanding of human nature, makes him to create a scenario which shows the mankind a true picture of an imaginary world. We all may acquire the world around us as our experience of physical objects, but it would be a mistake to limit ourselves to the predictable thoughts indentured by our stubbornness towards change. Plato is basically saying that our senses are deceiving us and we cannot always believe what we see and hear. He is making an analysis that our live is a 'puppet show' and we haven't experienced things such as true beauty because it is too huge for us to consider when we are trapped in the cave that represents our reality. I think everyone has their own individual "cave" when it comes to reality and how we all naturally observe and interpret it. We unknowingly translate reality through the subconscious. The rooted origin where applications mix in one's mind is the 'cave'. If reality enters, the 'cave' simultaneously will begin consumption, and division of the reality presence. One's 'cave' will break down the reality to more easily calculate "answers or truth, and even truth beyond actual reality. Thus the concept "cave" where the mind keeps resources, knowledge, and experiences used to map, and build the selfneeded truth structure. The end and final result is the individual's self-realization and unique point of view towards the reality conceived and the 'caves' perceptively found truth believed to be hidden or under-lined truth. Possible important realms of ones "cave" could include: ideas, morals, values, religion, life, present, future, plans, goals, optimistic outlook, pessimistic outlook, etc. To put it in a nut shell, most people prefer to remain in chains and to see only shadows of the truth. Only the few - and the wise - are willing to free themselves from the shackles and look the truth in the face, even if it is blinding at first.

Naheed Al Quraishi

2009-0009