Plato

Plato

- 428-374 BCE

- "Republic"

The Analogy of the Cave

- There are prisoners in a cave, chained to the floor so that they can only see the wall in front of them

- There are shadows of things passing the mouth of the cave, by a dimly lit fire

- One man escapes and is astounded by the 'real' objects outside that bear resemblance to their shadows

- He returns to tell his fellow prisoners, but they reject his news

Analysis

- Prisoners = Philosophically ignorant people

- Shadows = Objects in the finite world

- Cave = The Finite world

- Puppeteers = The people in the finite world who try to control us

- Outside = The Realm of the Forms

- Sun = Form of the Good

- Escaped Prisoner = Philosophically enlightened

-

--

-

…