Plato's The Cave

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Plato’s “The Cave”

“The Allegory of the Cave” or Plato’s Cave recognized as one classical literary work in the field of philosophy. It is presented by Greek philosopher Plato with the active consideration on aspects of knowledge and nature. The approach of Plato’s Cave presented in the form of a captivating dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and his teacher Socrates. The perspective presented by the author can be defined as the theory related to overall human perception. Undoubtedly, it is interesting to examine the domain of human discernment in case of different features of nature ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"yWewC0ep","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Fluke)","plainCitation":"(Fluke)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1288,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/7Hi3kAOD/items/D2I98VUD"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/7Hi3kAOD/items/D2I98VUD"],"itemData":{"id":1288,"type":"article-journal","title":"Allegory of the cave: On the theme of substantiation","container-title":"Child maltreatment","page":"69-72","volume":"14","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Fluke","given":"John"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Fluke 70). The paper critically focuses to critically reflect the literary work of Plato’s “The Cave.”

The reality and perception of material objects are critically discussed by Plato in “The Allegory of the Cave.” The basic argument presented by Plato is concerning humans’ approach in case of the reality of different things and aspects of life. It is further exploration of attainment of knowledge. It is argued by Plato that generally human beings are not able to see the actual prospect of truth concerning the idea of real knowledge. It is greatly focused by Plato that philosophy is one prominent and great field to find out the path of truth. The basic argument is presented by the author by used different aspects as symbols to illustrate reality. Cave, shadows, game, escape and return of the prisoner illustrated by philosopher as basic symbols to consider the different realities of various aspects.

The allegory of Plato started with the particular event when three prisoners tied up by a chain in the cave where there was a fire as the source of light. The tribulations of these prisoners identified as their helpless approach as they did not any choice but only to look at the wall. The only option they have was to see their shadows in the form of reflections of the objects outside the cave. They were restricted because they were strangled due to chain ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"htJkTvQO","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}The Allegory of the Cave})","plainCitation":"(The Allegory of the Cave)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1287,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/7Hi3kAOD/items/5H7EBSTG"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/7Hi3kAOD/items/5H7EBSTG"],"itemData":{"id":1287,"type":"book","title":"The Allegory of the Cave","publisher":"Lulu.com","URL":"https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=50T6DQAAQBAJ","ISBN":"978-1-365-67175-3","issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Plato 5). This specific situation compelled them to have a game by guessing the ordering of different shadows. The great twist of this allegory has appeared when one prisoner successfully escaped from the cave and abled to see the reality of the outer world. The reality of external world was immensely shocking for the escaped prisoner. This specific opportunity made it easy for him to figure out the actual reality of the things of the world.

The harsh reality of the world made it easy for the escaped prisoner to understand that world outside of cave is not real. The facet of intellectual journey helped him to comprehensively explore and examine the beauty and actual meaning of world. His return to cave is also one crucial aspect of allegory created by Plato. That was the time of great conflict between him and other prisoners as they were not willing to accept the other perspective of thinking. They came up with believing that functioning of world eventually corrupted the thought process of escaped prisoner ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Y3imnA9Y","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Buckle)","plainCitation":"(Buckle)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1289,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/7Hi3kAOD/items/N727Q2TF"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/7Hi3kAOD/items/N727Q2TF"],"itemData":{"id":1289,"type":"article-journal","title":"Descartes, Plato and the cave","container-title":"Philosophy","page":"301-337","volume":"82","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Buckle","given":"Stephen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Buckle 305). Critical reading of this allegory raised different questions about thinking domain and actual reality of world. It comes up with a focus that how much it is crucial to discover reality of this world through the domain of different perceptions.

In a nutshell, it is critical to indicate that this allegory greatly encourages people to think out of the box to discover hidden aspects of this mysterious world. It is one vital and brave step by individuals to think differently and presented argument to found new paradigms of life. This specific allegory is one great example to focus on different thinking approaches and perception when someone is actually interested to identify the actual reality of worldly objects.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Buckle, Stephen. “Descartes, Plato and the Cave.” Philosophy, vol. 82, no. 2, 2007, pp. 301–37.

Fluke, John. “Allegory of the Cave: On the Theme of Substantiation.” Child Maltreatment, vol. 14, no. 1, 2009, pp. 69–72.

The Allegory of the Cave. Lulu.com, 2017, https://books.google.com/books?id=50T6DQAAQBAJ.