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    The Allegory of the Cave
    The Allegory of the Cave
    The Allegory of the Cave
    Ebook49 pages55 minutes

    The Allegory of the Cave

    By Plato

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    Plato's Allegory of the Cave is one of the most elegant and important metaphors in Western philosophy. It is a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates, narrated by the latter, in which Plato elucidates his Theory of Forms.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigital Library of Alexandria
    Release dateJun 23, 2019
    ISBN9780359748433
    Author

    Plato

    Plato (428−348 BCE) was a philosopher and mathematician in ancient Greece. A student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle, his Academy was one of the first institutions of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely regarded as the father of modern philosophy. 

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      Book preview

      The Allegory of the Cave - Plato

      2

      Persons of the Dialogue

      Socrates, who is the narrator.

      Glaucon.

      Setting

      The scene is laid in the house of Cephalus at the Piraeus; and the whole dialogue is narrated by Socrates the day after it actually took place to Timaeus, Hermocrates, Critias, and a nameless person, who are introduced in the Timaeus.

      THE DIALOGUE

      And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:—Behold! Human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

      I see.

      And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.

      You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.

      Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

      True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?

      And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?

      Yes, he said.

      And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?

      Very true.

      And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?

      No question, he replied.

      To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.

      That is certain.

      And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision,—what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them,—will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?

      Far truer.

      And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make

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