FREE ESSAY ON ALLEGORY OF A CAVE

ALLEGORY OF A CAVE

Lisa Ann Haney
Philosophy 101
Allegory of the Cave
Paper #2
Is our perception of this world true or is it merely a reflection or shadow of the real
world? Can knowledge be passed from teacher to student or must each student travel his
own path to enlightenment? Are the enlightened responsible to the rest of society? Are
they the only people qualified to run society as a whole? These are the questions that
plagued Plato and resulted in his famous portion of The Republic entitled Allegory of the
Cave. These questions are very important because they address the system of education,
the system of government, and the concept of a better or alternative universe. These
questions have plagued many for thousands of years. The answers affect our every day
lives thus giving them great significance.
The author proposes that there are two worlds, the physical and the intellectual. He
thought that knowledge could not be passed from teacher to student, that rather, the
teacher should direct the student's mind toward what is real and important thus allowing
them to apprehend it for themselves. He also felt that it was the responsibility of the
enlightened to "educate" and rule over society as a whole.
Plato uses an allegory to suggest that the true path to enlightenment consist of a, maybe
painful, journey out of the darkness and into the light. It supports or maybe created the
theory that the truth hurts. He takes a character who grew up in a cave and who was
taught to believe only what he experienced with his senses. This is only logical. That is
until he is released into the "upper" world, the world outside the cave. Plato takes him
through his journey to enlightenment beginning with the painful first sight of direct
sunlight through the visions of shadows and to the reflections in the water until finally
he is able to look directly into the sun and argue that it is the "true" way of seeing
things. He is then made to descend again into the cave and make his efforts and journey
worthwhile. This allegory represents our journey from knowledge consisting only of our
physical reality to knowledge of an intellectual reality. 
In this argument, Plato assumes that the world revealed by our senses is not the real
world but a poor copy of it, that knowledge can not be passed from teacher to student,
that the universe is ultimately good, and the enlightened are obligated to society and
only the truly wise should rule.
Bibliography
Platos Allegory of a cave