Analysis Of The Allegory Of The Cave By Plato

Liberal education is not something that is not defined easily. There are various different aspects of liberal education that make it what it is. Part of the liberal education classes that Grand Valley offers work to help students understand and define liberal education better. Not only that, but liberal education helps make students what they are today. Through out the various readings, exercises, and various forms of expression, our liberal education class has helped shape the idea of liberal education and how we, and a university can use it to better enhance our experiences in our daily lives.

The Allegory of the Cave, written by Plato, is an expression of Plato’s view of the human condition. It starts with several individuals who has been

It is important note that those prisoners only saw shadows. But because of their captivity the appearance of the shadows is all they knew. That is their subjective reality. But when forced out into what is actually out there, the world changes. We believe what we know. But knowing isn’t seeing. This concept is relatable to education. As Pluto states the presence and ability to learn is in everyone, deep within their soul. But how students are taught, isn’t something that just you memorize, but something you experience. Pluto uses the simile to describe this idea. He states “ The instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body.” (Plato, 1974, pg. 52). Education is the key to the fulfillment of reality. Education is what is teaching us what is not just learned, but what is real. We gain knowledge, but with that we also gain insight. Liberal education is bringing awareness to various aspects of life that we wouldn’t usually look at. Liberal education is there to teach us to go out and experience new ideas, new cultures, and new ways of thinking. And that what we need to experience life