Plato's Allegory Of The Cave And The Role Of Philosophy

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the Role of Philosophy
Very few subjects, if any, divides opinions as much as philosophy. Philosophy occupies a realm of logic and reasoning which is often considered to be mutually exclusive from the more commonly accepted ones of science and mathematics. This difference can often lead to the masses questioning the efficacy of philosophy. However, for those who understand the true value of philosophy and are willing to invest the time and attention that is needed for the true comprehension of philosophy, it can be a valuable and rewarding experience. Perhaps, in order to understand what philosophy truly is and how it can be useful, there is no need to look further than the philosopher Plato and his famous work “allegory of the cave”. Using this story of people in the cave, Plato not only explains how important philosophy can be, but he also explained why philosophers are often misunderstood by the people they actually try to help.
The allegory takes the formation of a conversation between Glaucon, Plato’s brother, and Socrates, Plato’s teacher. Socrates tells Glaucon about the situation which focuses on a group of prisoners trapped in a cave for their entire life. The way they were bound with chains, it ensured that they had no choice but keep staring at the walls of the cave. There were people who came in and out of the cave, but the prisoners could not see them. However, they could see on the wall the shadows of the things those people carried in and out of the cave. They also heard the sounds, but since they never saw the people, they assumed that the shadows were the sources of the sound. To these prisoners of the cave, the shadows and the sounds that came of them were their understanding of reality. However, that was definitely not true reality and was only a simulated form of it. However, if one of the prisoners is able to get free, he or she would be able to climb out of the cave. The freed prisoner would come to the open and get blinded immediately from the sunlight and would get deafened by the immense noises coming from everywhere. However, after a while, his or her vision or adjust to the bright sunlight and the sounds from the surrounding. The prisoner would understand the true meaning of reality, and that the reality they experienced in the cave was not the reality at all. In short, the …show more content…
Hence, the freed prisoner would re-enter the cave to free the others. However, once inside, the darkness will cause him or her to experience blindness in the cave as the prisoner is too accustomed to the bright light outside. However, the other prisoners will think that the evils of the outside have blinded the freed prisoner, and would assume that the outside world is full of dangers and evil. Hence, despite the best efforts of the freed prisoner, they would not want to get free and leave the cave behind. The cave and the shadows in the wall is the entire life that they have known, and they would not feel comfortable leaving that behind. Instead, according to Plato, the prisoners might even want to hurt and kill the freed prisoner for trying to disrupt their