Plato's ‘allegory of the cave’ is an insightful piece and one of the best attempts trying to explain the reality as it is versus the common perception. In this piece, Plato attempts to answer some of the philosophical questions touching on the nature of reality. One of Plato’s prime ideas is touching on forms, in which he explains that the world as it is known is just a reflection of ideal forms and that the material world that we can touch, see, smell or even hear is more of half-seen images of the ideal forms. Relying on physical senses alone according to Plato is making one effectively blind. The world we see, therefore, is just a reflection of forms represented by the world and not the reality.
Plato uses a short piece of an informative story to explain ‘forms’ and the ‘cave’. The story starts with a conversation between Plato’s mentor, Glaucon and Socrates. Socrates tells Glaucon to visualize of a cave with prisoners kept in it. The prisoners have lived in the caves since childhood. All of them are chained in a manner that both their necks and legs are immobile. The only option left for them is to stare at the wall facing them. Fire is seen behind the prisoners. Between the prisoners and the fire exist a raised path on which individuals walk.
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The people using this path are puppeteers carrying objects resembling the shape of human and animal figures, also items used in daily life. Since the prisoners cannot move their heads, they are only able to see reflected images on the wall, but they presume that the images are real and not a reflection of what is real. Socrates then introduces a twist into the story, saying that if one of the prisoners is freed, then he would look around and see the fire. His eyes would be hurt by the fire hence making it difficult for him to see the real objects casting the shadows. If anyone told him that the objects he is seeing are real instead of the ones he is used to seeing, he would refuse to believe. He would, in fact, turn and go back to the things he is used to seeing. He would believe that the objects he is used to seeing inside the cave are more transparent than the ones being shown to him. Plato continues suggesting that suppose this prisoner is forcefully dragged out into the sunlight; the prisoner would be in more intense pain and angry because of the radiant sunlight. He would, however, slowly and gradually adjust to the sunlight and he would slowly begin to see starting with shadows. He would then begin to see reflections of objects in the water and compare them with the real objects.
Eventually, he would be able to look at the stars, the moon and even the sun. Plato says that the prisoner would start thinking that the outside world is more superior as compared to the one inside the cave. He would be happy for his experience and begin to pity the other prisoners inside the cave. He would want to bring the other prisoners out of the cave into the sunlight. When this freed prisoner returns to the cave, he would be blind when reentering just as he was when seeing the sunlight for the first time. The other prisoners would not want to get out of the cave for fear of getting blind just like their colleague. They would in fact never want to go on a similar journey. Socrates then concludes by saying that the prisoners would kill anybody trying to drag them out of the cave.
This piece uses many symbolisms to represent the real world. The cave, for instance, represents the world, and the prisoners are the inhabitants of the world. The chains preventing the prisoners from leaving the cave represent people’s ignorance that greatly interferes with them seeing the truth or the reality. The shadow cast on the wall of the cave is a representation of what people perceive to be the truth. Finally, the freed prisoner represents the few people in the world who see the physical world as opposed to the illusion that the reality represents.
