Symbolism In The Allegory Of The Cave

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The central theme of this text is an extended metaphor for how Plato views human knowledge and ignorance. Plato uses the metaphor of people in a cave as most humans, and people who leave the cave as those who are enlightened. The metaphor serves as an explanation of ignorance and how it relates to knowledge and how that knowledge is treated in society. There is a special mention of how people come to gain knowledge and how those with knowledge are perceived in society at large. Plato writes, “Next then,” I said, “make an image of our nature in its education and want of education, likening it to the condition of the following kind” (Plato). Socrates in this text is educating the reader on what it means to have an education and to be a lover …show more content…

It can be said that the enlightened man being put to death in the cave is closely related to Socrates being put to death of his philosophical teachings. Furthermore, the allegory of the cave can be seen as an almost instructions for how to be a true philosopher. Plato writes “... to see good and to go up that ascent; and, when they have gone up and seen sufficiently, not to permit them what is now permitted.” This indicates that it is not just to make the metaphorical ascent to philosophical enlightenment and stay above the metaphorical cave. This is an important aspect of the text because it elevates Plato’s writing from an almost pretentious description of the human condition, to an urging ode to Socratic …show more content…

The complex portrait of the cave and subsequent narrative of the person escaping the cave serve the purpose of explaining the text in a very detailed way, while still remaining metaphorical. These components can be seen as the interlinking examples of the text, which explains why Plato’s allegory is a logical portrayal of the human condition. Socrates writes of the prisoners, “such men would hold that truth is nothing other than the shadows of artificial things.” This is applicable to the people in the cave, as they hold the shadows to be reality, but also human beings. The metaphor in this instance is that the shadows are what realities we see, distorted and controlled by the powers that

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