The Myth of the Cave - Essay Example

Plato’s “Myth of the Cave.” Having been written about 360 BC as part of his excellent work, The Republic is one of the clearest allegories by Plato. Using the narrative of prisoners who are bound and confined to a life in a cave, Plato creates an insightful description of the life of humans who are in denial of the conditions of humans. He also points out the difficulties and the intellectual process involved in solving the problems and liberating oneself from such kind of life. The allegory acts as a metaphorical representation in full contrast with the way human being do perceive and believe in what reality is. Exactly what is reality? What one may be seeing may other people not see it? The answer to these questions is simply ne: Ignorance. Ignorance is what is holding humans back from seeing the bigger picture of reality. In Plato’s story, he establishes a cave where prisoners are put in chains and forced to be looking the caves front wall. Behind the prisoners, there is a bridge, fire and others whose shadows are casted on the wall and the prisoners perceive to be real. The general point this far in Plato’s allegory of the cave is the general terms of the language we speak and use are not just names of the physical things we see and touch. Might look and see things as objects, but what are they in reality? They are things not visible to human beings but can be grasped by the power of the mind. This is what Plato describes as “imagination”. When human beings are unaware of reality, they start feeling uncomfortable and tend not to open up their minds. This is because they are enjoying the comfort zone they are in. Once an individual decides to step out of the ignorance (cave) and have a look at the human “reality”, which is the shadows and is not true reality that is represented by the sun, the ultimate and final stage of thought will have been achieved and, which is “understanding”. Plato in his “Myth of the Cave” describes how people are living with chains in their lives that keep them from becoming enlightened individuals. Some of the chains holding us in life keep people in the shadow hence denying individuals the capability as well as the ability to learn how to face the truth and how to face knowledge. Plato’s myth of the cave analyzes closely how individuals do behave while dealing with knowledge in life. Human fear of truth help in creating chains in life that makes individuals ignore the inevitability of change. It is known today the reserve of trees has been decreasing, yet people are still refusing to see and acknowledge what is taking place before their eyes. It is obvious to many whenever trees are cut down then the existence of humankind would be put in jeopardy or even to a point of dying. This is because, trees are vital in maintenance of the atmospheric gasses through oxygen production, but man still goes ahead and cut down trees. Such problems in our environment are treated in such manner the cave dwellers were treating their situation. When those who had escaped returned and told them of the sun, they tell him he is running nuts for talking of such crazy things as the sun. The cave dwellers ignore the fact that in their life there is more than just the comfort of the shadows. In his book “the myth of the cave”, Plato portrays the cave as the only earthly existence. We are prisoners of our world and the shadows, which we see, are everything the society has accredited: lifestyle, morality, truth, and social actions. The cave can be interpreted as our vain seeks and foolish such as power, appreciation, and wealth. Whenever we put these vain things into comparison with real knowledge and truth, they remain superficial. There are things that are internal but not credible; things of material nature are only the essence of those things, which are not credible. The center of philosophy forms the theory of ideas. Therefore, the essence of things becomes the ideas. The areas of simulacrum then become sensitivity area. Sensitivity belongs to the world of materials. Due to the expression of sensitivity, we realize changes are direct, indirect existence, conversion and disappearance. The realm of human existence is the realm of soul in the world. The real knowledge always goes to the soul through the eyes. Knowledge does not reveal through sensitivity; it is associated with actual existence that remains unchanged and makes the basis of expression. Things only form the world of ideas. The idea of "good" is paramount to the existence of man. It forms the boundary between knowledge and the world. The sensitivity knowledge is not real because of the existence of the soul; human beings receive real knowledge because of their conscious nature; the soul’s mission, therefore, is liberating man from sensitivity world. The chains tightly hold to enslave us are the chains of our human senses. As Plato records in his writing: “the dwelling of the prison corresponds to the regions highlighted to us using the sense of sight and the fire-light within it to the power of the sun.” He reveals to us the sun symbolizes good, and when we get to understand the good and its power, is the way to getting to the intellectual world. The point of Plato’s allegory was to give an explanation on how people should not be assuming things, but experience it for oneself. The cave acts as a representation of “a hole”. People in the society do place themselves in such holes and later develop one-sided views on something rather than getting to understand the real meaning of the thing. Plato explains how people refuse to be open to things that are existing out there or those they cannot see with their own eyes. People tend to be close-minded on what else might be there once they get to their comfort zones. This is evident in the writing when the prisoner who was released returned to the cave, and the other prisoners saw him as an outcast. This is because their experience could not match his and saw him different and though very different from how they were thinking. The prisoners developed fear and did not want to have such experiences their fellow prisoner who was released. They were happy in that whatever they had believed for long was what they had established to be true rather than seeing for themselves if it was true indeed. In Plato’s cave allegory, the fire and the sun represent the cooperative ideals of life or meaning. They are the integrated, the truth condemned living in such fear. Plato tried to make this association very clear in his writing stating, “The light of the fire in the (cave)...prison corresponds to the power of the sun.” He states people have been living in complete denial of the meaning and truths associated with some things in life. The result of this is what they can see as a highly distorted representation of a world they are in. He further acknowledges someone has to free of the cave existence of the human denial. This individual must be living in the illuminating light of the sun, which is accepting the truth and thinks truthfully. This is so for the individuals to be in a position to find understanding of the conditions of humans and by so doing will be able to see through the denial and the illusion of cave existence (Plato, Bryan, and Bryan). In conclusion, I have realized the allegory put forth by Plato has a lot deeper meaning than just a tale being told. Everything he mentions is symbolic. The prisoners symbolize humankind whereas the shadows seen by prisoners are the stories being told to human beings whether they are told by the media, government, or other people in the surrounding. These shadows can either a representation of truth or false but they seem to be limited and hence we are not ibn full control of what we are told. Therefore, each is in control and responsible of what he or she decides to show other people. The sunlight discussed by Plato is nothing but a representation of the truth. If one does not see the light for a long time and suddenly he receives exposure, there is an intrinsic physical pain. If an individual is lied to his or her entire life and suddenly is exposed of finds out the truth, he or she will go through mental pain. This is what Plato is trying to represent and highlight in the allegory of the cave. Works cited Plato, William Lowe Bryan, and Charlotte Lowe Bryan. “The Republic [Books I-X].” Plato the Teacher: Being Selections from the Apology, Euthydemus, Protagoras, Symposium, Phædrus, Republic, and Phædo of Plato. N. p., 1897. 187–409. Print.  Read More