The Allegory of the Cave - Essay Example

Much might have changed in this time and age when the Allegory of the Cave was penned by Plato, however, it lessons is still relevant to this generation just as it was then. This can be seen in the fact that just as Plato equated people untaught in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in caves in a way that obstruct them from reality, we are still confronted by such a picture. There even more parallels to draw from the Allegory of the Caves to the life we are living today. For instance, Plato’s argument about form has a lot that we can learn from if the preeminence that education has found itself in is anything to go by. In this regard, I am referring to Plato’s argument to the effect that people can be taught to perceive not with their senses but in a manner that enables them to comprehend that which they perceive, which is similar to releasing Plato’s prisoners so that they can be able to turn their heads and perceive the real things that are casting the shadow. One notable thing about the Allegory of the Cave is that it presents, although in brief form, a number of Plato’s philosophical assumptions. In this regard, I am referring to his belief that the way the world is revealed in our senses is not a replica of the real world but a very poor copy as such. This belief which forms one of the most prominent philosophical assumption is best manifested in the Allegory of the Cave by Plato’s likening of this state of unrealistic world view with chained prisoner’s who think that the shadows that they see behind their chained position is what constitute reality, which unfortunately is fundamentally wrong. There are those who might voice several objections on Plato’s allegory. First, they might question the huge gap that he draws between the intelligible and the invisible realm. It appear like to him it is either you are chained or not, but nothing in-between. Experience has shown me that the degree at which people acquire Plato’s idea of ‘education’ is never in those two extremes that Plato describes in this allegory. Looking at real life, even the most simple-minded prisoner in this sort of a shadow interrogates the validity of what he/she sees while posing epistemological questions that point to a deeper understanding of the intelligible realm. Failing to undergo the entire painful transformation does not necessarily mean that a person is totally unaware or in denial of “reality and understanding”, as is the case with Plato’s prisoners. Perhaps we are supposed to understand that some people are further ahead of others in their exit from the cave, something that Plato capture perfectly when he acknowledge that a prisoner would require time to adjust before he/she get used to the world above (Kraut, 2011), which essentially suggests that enlightenment take time. However, he proceeds to paint a picture of two separate groupings; those who digest what they perceive at face value and those others who strive to get truth and understanding via knowledge. I strongly believe that this allegory would have been more precise and easier to apply in today’s life if it had addressed the gray areas between somebody in the visible realm and the other completely immersed in the truth in the intelligible realm. Secondly, I fail to understand why enlightenment should end the moment a prisoner exit the cave. At first, the prisoner believed that the shadow of those artefacts that he/she saw constituted the truth. Since they were wrong in believing that, what assurance do they have that whatever they will see once out of the cave will be errorless? And as if to show that whatever the prisoners will see once out of the cave will not necessarily constitute the truth, Plato uses words like “truer and clearer” in describing the intelligible realm. According to me, it would make sense to assume that these prisoners, rather than being satisfied with “truer and clearer” world out of the cave, would be more doubtful of their observation of the world and instead investigate the probability of an even clearer and truer truth and understanding. In a nutshell, what Plato is trying to say is that we should not be deluded by what we perceive with our senses. This because what we perceive with our senses is in most cases a facade that ought to be processed by our thought process if we are to comprehend it fully. The simple reason for this is because such a dependence on the ‘shadow’ and even the physical world fails to prepare us for the real world while taking us to the wrong direction. It is this illusion that Plato likens to some sort of bondage as can be demonstrated by the prisoners that Plato indirectly drives one of his philosophical assumption that calls for the enlightened among us to liberate those in the bondage of illiteracy from their mediocrity so that they can start seeing reality. It is spellbinding that Plato’s philosophy has transcended both time and space to survive up to this time and age. However, there are a number of issues and ideas that have a major effect on us and our way of thinking that we ought to recognize and understand. First, supposing one of the chained men is unchained and dragged from the cave into the outside world where he sees the real world for the very first time. Now he has indulged into the beauty of the world and he hates returning to the cave although he is compelled to return on account of his chained colleagues. Upon returning with stories of the outside world he is likely to be ridiculed by his colleagues, who might as well refuse to be freed from their chains to experience the same beauty. This demonstrates the resistance that a person brought-up on a fixed word view will exhibit towards any slight contrast to the ‘status quo’, a total rejection of any chance of change and therefore self-discovery. The lesson from the allegory is as relevant today as it was then, though maybe at a smaller scale. There is no doubt that we are always finding reasons to justify any threat to what we believe is right even when change is staring us in the face. We are very good at explaining out discrepancies in our lives, instead of considering looking at such discrepancies from a totally different perspective. A classic example of this kind of rejection can be found in the ancient church’s denunciation of the idea that the earth is not at the centre of the universe as it had always maintained at the time, despite clear justification to the contrary. A more recent example can be found in the contemporary entertainment and specifically the movie “matrix.” In this movie, the facade that is reality it is even darker and bleaker, where real world is exposed as a sunless hell that is ruled over by machines, as compared to the splendid illusion concocted by mechanics to perpetuate human-race’s enslavement. Works Cited Kraut, Richard, "Plato." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy”. Edward N. Zalta, ed, page. Web. Fall, 2011. Read More