The Allegory of The Cave

The Allegory of The Cave

In this excerpt from the Republic, the philosopher Plato writes about a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon where he states the difference between reality and being unenlightened. In the allegory of the cave Socrates compares the ignorance of people to the life of prisoners who since their childhood have been living in a cave.  The opening of the cave is towards the light which reaches all along the cave.  Their legs and neck are chained. They are unable to turn their heads. All they can see is only what is in front of them.  Fire burns behind them at a distance.     There is a wall between the prisoners and the fire, serving as a screen to show shadows of puppets and statues made of wood and stone.   

Prisoners hear talking and see movements of vessels along the wall.  The reality is not seen or known to the prisoners. The fire reflects their shadows and that of others on the wall.  If prisoners talked to each other about what is seen and heard, they would be mistaken to refer to the shadows and echoes as reality. At the release of a Prisoner, he will be driven to turn his neck round, walk and look in the direction of the light and be able to see the reality of his previous state of life.  These realities are shadows. He will be forced to climb out of the cave to experience what he initially perceived as truth, he will have the realization of reflections and shadows which is described by Plato as painful.  He will understand now, his eyes have turned to reality and adjusted to the sunlight he is able to see well. He can see people and things as it exists in reality.  Will he not imagine that the shadows he previously saw are truer than the objects shown to him?

 If he is made to return to the cave he will be unable to see the shadows as reality again. He would want to enlighten them as to the wisdom that he had learnt; they would in return want him to be their leader. Will he be inclined to pity them?  Socrates explains that when the prisoner can see the cause of what is in the sky and sun as reality and not reflection, he is now aware of truth and reality. There is now understanding.