Wrongful Persecution of Philosophers

1290 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Relevance of philosophy in our society

In The Republic, Socrates uses several images in his arguments as metaphors to explain a larger, more significant statement. The allegory of the cave is used to demonstrate that philosophers are wrongly persecuted by the unphilisophical, in that they are indispensable because they are the only ones in the city able to view the world through the intelligible realm, and therefore are able to see the truth (Plato 189). The philosophers in the cave are able to see more than what is projected in front of them, unlike the others chained to the wall. They are able to leave the cave and view the real world representing the intelligible realm (194). They do not praise what is false, but have seen the truth and are able to make a distinction between the two (161). Unphilosophical individuals view the world through the realm of the visible which, unlike the realm of the intelligible, is subject to change and inconsistency. They have never seen or experienced the intelligible realm and therefore do not know the value of it. Because of this, they are unable to understand the philosophers who do see through the intelligible realm. In the allegory, when the philosophers are brought back into the cave after being exposed and adjusting to the light, they are blind in the darkness and can no longer see the images on the wall. The images are solely what the unphilosophical see and have ever seen, and therefore deem the philosophers useless for not being able to see the only things that they know to exist (195). The philosophers, although, are satisfied, for they have seen the truth and what is real, and cannot go back to participating in falsehood (196). Their being able to see in the realm of the intelligible makes them valuable over tho...

... middle of paper ...

...philosophical, they are thought to have a radical and irrational way of thinking, when really it is the most rational way of thinking and the most beneficial in the ruling of the just city (169). Their way of seeing what things are is essential to knowing what justice, the foundation of the city, really is. They are also crucial to the education of future philosopher guardians because they are the only ones that possess the knowledge and wisdom that is necessary to be passed on to the next generation in order to maintain a successful just city, just as the only ones that are able to bring the new philosophers from the cave to the light are those that are accustomed to it and are capable of seeing the importance of it. Even though the philosophers are ridiculed and thought to be useless to the society, they are, in fact, integral to the success of the just city.

Show More
Related

  • Justice and Moderation of the Soul in The Republic, by Plato

    3023 Words  | 7 Pages

    In his philosophical text, The Republic, Plato argues that justice can only be realized by the moderation of the soul, which he claims reflects as the moderation of the city. He engages in a debate, via the persona of Socrates, with Ademantus and Gaucon on the benefit, or lack thereof, for the man who leads a just life. I shall argue that this analogy reflecting the governing of forces in the soul and in city serves as a sufficient device in proving that justice is beneficial to those who believe in, and practice it. I shall further argue that Plato establishes that the metaphorical bridge between the city and soul analogy and reality is the leader, and that in the city governed by justice the philosopher is king.

    Read More

  • How Does Plato Use Ethos In The Allegory Of The Cave

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “The Allegory of the Cave”, Plato is demonstrating his belief and theory about what peoples mindset concerning old and new ideas through a metaphor. He use Aristotelian techniques to build the base and strength of his essay.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    1890 Words  | 4 Pages

    Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ rotates around the notion of our vision as humans being limited, and only being exposed to a certain extent of knowledge within our surroundings. The Allegory of the Cave presented a rare case where prisoners were trapped in a cave for all their lives with hands, neck and feet bound to look at a wall with shadows beings casted by a fire that lies behind them. Once a prisoner breaks free of the binds, his curiosity allows him to follow the light that then exposes him to the real world where he is blinded by the sun. Each of the elements in the allegory are symbols that can be related to modern day situations as metaphors. Though society has evolved drastically, many struggles that we face today resemble the allegory.

    Read More

  • Plato and Bacon

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a story being told by Socrates to Plato’s brother, Glaucon. Socrates tells of prisoners in an underground cave who are made to look upon the front wall of the cave. To the rear of the prisoners, below the protection of the parapet, lie the puppeteers whom are casting the shadows on the wall in that the prisoners are perceiving reality. Once a prisoner is free, he's forced to look upon the fire and objects that once determined his perception of reality, and he so realizes these new pictures before of him are now the accepted forms of reality. Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and the way they might naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they need perpetually seen as a pleasing and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief."

    Read More

  • Symbolization Of Life In Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Plato’s “The Allegory Of The Cave” a lot of symbolization of life now with close minded people and back when he wrote the story exists till this day. People who are only taught one thing or don’t have any other vision or don’t expand their mind. For example the people in the story only seeing the cave their whole life have no idea what the world is like.

    Read More

  • Exploring Change in The Allegory of the Cave, and The Myth of Sisyphus

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave is a parable that demonstrates how humans are afraid of change and what they do not know.  In this work, Plato suggests a situation in which men are living in an underground cave.  The one entrance is located near the top and there, a burning fire casts shadow.  The men of the cave are chained so that they can only see the wall and cannot turn around.  When objects pass by it creates a shadow on the wall.  The shadows are the only thing they can see and therefore is the only thing they know to exist (747).  Somehow one of them gets loose and wanders outside the cave (748).  When he gets out, he is astonished at what he finds.  He comes back in to tell the others about what he saw.  The other men think he is mad and plot to kill him (749).  This illustrates how fear, inherent in the primitive nature of man, only serves to promote his ignorance.

    Read More

  • The Allegory of the Cave

    1971 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave has many applications to both Plato’s writing and life in general. It describes the education of a philosopher, as well as how others look on the philosopher after he has gained the knowledge of the Forms. It also describes what it is like to see the forms. After understanding the forms, what once were objects, real things, become merely shadows. One sees everything as it truly exists, as it’s form.

    Read More

  • Parallels between The Movie, The Matrix and Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    2216 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Book VII of The Republic, Plato tells a story entitled "The Allegory Of The Cave." He begins the story by describing a dark underground cave where a group of people are sitting in one long row with their backs to the cave's entrance. Chained to their chairs from an early age, all the humans can see is the distant cave wall in from of them. Their view of reality is soley based upon this limited view of the cave which but is a poor copy of the real world.

    Read More

  • Understanding Of Life In Plato's Story 'The Allegory Of The Cave'

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Plato 's story "The Allegory of the cave" men are stuck in this cave with their backs turned away from the light, until one day a man turns towards the light and learns for himself what the light is about. The man than explores and begins to educate himself on everything and anything, he then tries to take everything he has learned back down to the cave to get his fellow cave members to step out and learn what the light is all about. The metaphor that Plato 's places in this story is how the cave is represents the human mind and the light represents the understanding of life

    Read More

  • The Allegory Of The Cave And The Apology By Plato

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    "The Allegory of the Cave" and "The Apology" by Plato explore the methods in which people for themselves, usually through the cultivation of the soul. "The Allegory of the Cave" employs an allegory to highlight the importance of the soul, while "The Apology" focuses on Plato 's beloved mentor, Socrates, and his views on tur value of the soul. Both allegory and dialogue seek to stress the importance of the truth to caring for one 's self. The pursuit of the truth and the care of the self are intricately intertwined; one cannot do without the other. Additionally, both pieces challenge the reader from their complacency and forces them to re-evaluate their lives, calling for lives that better cultivate the soul and take care of the self. From

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Allegory of the Cave by Plato

    5691 Words  | 12 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand abstract reality requires the understanding of mathematics and finally the forms or the Ideals of all things (the world outside the cave). But our understanding of the physical world is mirrored in our minds by our ways of thinking. First comes imagination (Socrates thought little of creativity), then our unfounded but real beliefs. Opinion gives way to knowledge through reasoning (learned though mathematics). Finally, the realization of the forms is mirrored by the level of Understanding in the Ways of Thinking. The key to the struggle for knowledge is the reasoning skills acquired through mathematics as they are applied to understanding ourselves. The shadows on the cave wall change continually and are of little worth, but the reality out side the cave never changes and that makes it important.

    Read More

  • The Myth Of The Cave Essay

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    They are in the dark about the truth and reality because they are unwilling to see the truth about the light, or the real world. They live with illusions of the real world but never get to see what really happens because of this unwillingness to believe others to see. They are stuck in their predisposed ways because they were never exposed to reality. If you can only see what is in front of you can ever know true reality. This story is representative of they way people live their everyday live and how what they live constantly might not be the highest knowledge. Ultimately when he can finally see the sun it represents what s the truth and goodness. The cave represents how people live their lives, in the dark, and “world of illusion” (Plato). The shadows in the cave represent the false reality everyday people see. This allegory make one question their own believes and reality. It teaches one to think about all their experiences in their life and think if the reality they know is true. He uses this story to explain how being a philosopher is like being the prisoner that can see, and the others stuck in the cave are the general masses that will not go though the pain of losing their reality to see the

    Read More

  • Plato And Francis Bacon And Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, Plato’s Allegory of the cave is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon and its main purpose, as Plato states is to, “show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened.”(Plato) The dialogue includes a group of prisoners who are captive in a cave and chained down, only with the ability to stare straight at a wall. This wall, with the help of a fire, walkway, and people carrying different artifacts and making sounds, create a shadow and false perception of what is real. This concept here is one of the fundamental issues that Plato brings up in the reading. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” (Plato). These prisoners, being stuck in this cave their entire life have no other option but to believe what they see on the wall to be true. If they were to experience a real representation of the outside world they would find it implausible and hard to understand. “When any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up a...

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, and Dualism

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...onclusion, the considerations of knowledge and reality are ones that philosophers will continue to contemplate throughout the centuries. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a wonderful attempt at trying to ascertain the answers to these inquiries with its revealing comparisons that contrast the darkness of ignorance and the light of the sun to knowledge to demonstrate an individual’s journey up and out of the cave to the immaterial world of heaven and a state of true enlightenment. The allegory also illustrates Plato’s ideal of dualism by liberating knowledge from any dependency on anything material or physical. This excursion into Plato’s teachings illuminated the “Allegory of the Cave” in detail, and affirmed the question that dualism does, undeniably, exist and that Plato is correct in his ideal that reality does, without a doubt, go beyond the material world.

    Read More

  • Plato’s View of Division of Labor in Plato’s Republic

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, people should be able to differentiate between the philosophers who are true and those who are false. At the first, Plato’s concept of philosopher was the wisdom lover then he proceeded to identify a true philosopher as the man who has access to the Form. This form show the purity of thought where philosophers can see the reality of the life not the fake life. For example, blue jeans and sky are the same colour b...

    Read More

More about Wrongful Persecution of Philosophers

Open Document