Plato's Cave Analogy: For & Against

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  • Created by: nelliott
  • Created on: 14-06-21 15:21

Plato's Cave Analogy: For & Against

Advantages

  • We all do seem to share a common understanding of qualities such as beauty and truth. They must have come from somewhere.
  • Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living so we should question everything around us to discover the truth.
  • It is true that most people live in a shadow world and that human beings therefore do not have a clear notion of what reality is.

Disadvantages

  • It makes no sense to believe in a spiritual world that you cannot see over a physical world that you can see.
  • Plato suggests that all that is necessary for a good society is Philosophers. However, practical skills, which they cannot necessarily provide, are far more essential.
  • We live in a world which values empirical knowledge because of science and because we value our senses every day to keep us safe. The cave is only Plato’s version of reality.

Evaluation

There are both arguments for and against Plato's cave analogy.

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