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Advantages
- The key message of Plato's analogy is that the world around us, which we think is so important, is really just an illusion, and that true reality, which is far more valuable, lies beyond our experience.This idea could be interpreted to have some validity. For example we might be taken in by someone's personal appearance, and that in fact it is their personality that is far more real and important.
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Disadvantages
- Since plato makes a point that the entire visible world is an illusion, and that the world of forms is the only reality to which we should devote our lives.This argument is only valid if the concept of forms is accepted.If we were to conclude that there is no world of forms, then the analogy is meaningless, for there would be nothing to know beyond the visible world.
- It is not always the case that, just because one knows the truth does not mean one will always choose to live by it.We might know and understand that true goodness involves helping others, but we could still choose to be selfish.
- The analogy may fail to illustrate the attractiveness of the visible world; the scene inside the gloomy cave hardly represents the delights of the senses.
- Plato's analogy does not successfully illustrate the difference between the visible world and the world of forms.Since plato believed unlike the visible world, the forms are beyond the experiences of our senses.The analogy of the cave fails to illustrate this distinction: both the Form of Good (the sun) and the source of appearances in the cave (the fire)are the same type of thing because the sun is a very big fire. The analogy does not therefore accurately help us to understand the difference between the Forms and the visible world.
- Plato's idea of the Form of Good is not valid because there doe sent seem to be a complete agreement on what goodness is. Since Plato believed that all other forms are the derivation of the Form of Good, how do we know what goodness is? The highest task of the philosopher is to gain knowledge of the Form of Good .
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