Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

“The allegory of the cave” written by Plato, is an allegorical essay that acknowledges the human perception of how humans determine what is true. Plato believes the ideal of spiritual learning and philosophical learning, to gain knowledge on what is known to be true. The perception of how humans fear change and what they do not have knowledge of, limits their ability to know what is real. The allegory of the cave represents cave dwellers who are unable to turn their heads from being chained down. They are subjected to one perception of truth which is the shadows they have seen on the wall. The prisoners were forced to view shadows from objects that were held up in the cage, the shadows were illusions of images they cannot see. We receive

For example, babies, babies are subjected to believe that the knowledge they receive from their guardians is true, because they have been subjected their whole life to believe that their parents are the truths to what they know, so when they are of age to learn their own perception of what is true, they question their childhood to see how do they determine if the knowledge they received is true. The Cave dwellers was held as prisoners had no option when it came to their beliefs, so they had no choice but to believe the shadows they see to be their idea of the truth. Plato writes “Then in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects.”(Plato 748c). Plato explains that the shadows are only illusion of what the cave dwellers know to be true. This brings the perception of ignorance, Plato writes “And if it were possible to lay hands on and to kill the man who tried to release them and lead them up, would they not kill him?.”(Plato 749). This “ignorance” that we confine ourselves to learn and believe that what we are taught is true, is instead of seeking behind our measures to find the “real”