Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Plato’s Allegory of the cave: Knowledge, Truth, and Education

Subjectively but consistently, Plato's Allegory of the cave enlightens readers about the truths behind how knowledge interacts with the government to create the Ideal state. Using a story about of a group of people in a cave not being able to experience the true wonders of the world, Plato argues that knowledge is acquired through each individual's personal achievement and experiences; this in turn leads to the ability for the acquisition of knowledge to be tailored due to restrictions of the person based on what they have experienced in the world. Plato ties this story in with government by outlining why those with the ability to enrich themselves further about the world around

These prisoners in the story have been here since birth and have never seen the outside world for what it truly is. However, behind the prisoners is a fire and between the two is a walkway from which people from outside the cave walk back and forth carrying items on their head such as: wood, stone, plants, and animals. In the eye’s of a prisoner you would only be able to see a dim light created on the wall in front of you from the fire, but when people walk on the walkway you are able to see shadows of the objects they are carrying cast onto the wall in front of you. Due to your state of being bound, you would never be able to see anything else except for this cave wall which meant that you could never see real objects before, and you would think that these shadows of the actual objects were “real.” Over time, the prisoners would begin to develop a game in which someone would guess what the next object that would be presented in front of them was, and if guessed correctly, that person was revered as a clever person and a master of nature. Plato’s situation truly represents the pitfalls students go through on their own personal quests to attain knowledge about

It is brought forth that one prisoner is able to free himself from his binds and exit the cave. Outside the cave, the prisoner is able to experience the true nature of the world even though he can not believe that it could be real. When he begins understanding what the world has to offer, he realizes that his former view of reality was incorrect; He witnesses that the sun is the source of life and using this newfound thought, he goes on a journey of intellect to discover other beauty and meaning behind it. “The sun provides not only the power of being seen for things seen, but as I think you will agree, also their generation and growth and nurture, although it is not itself generation...good is not itself a state of being...transcending far beyond it in dignity and power.” In addition, he continues his evaluation of his previous life by stating that the game the prisoners played was now useless since everything they knew of reality was tiny compared to the large scope of truth that was all around them the whole