The Allegory of the Cave - Assignment Example

The Allegory of the Cave The allegory of the cave is one of the oldest and well insightful parables. This is from the fact that this allegory focuses on human life and the manner through which people relate. According to the analogy, there are three major different scenes and each of the scenes when observed from a contemporary day view portrays the human mind in relation to changes. It is important to break down the analogy to gain an in-depth understanding of the philosopher’s views and get enlightened on various issues. In the analogy, there is both the literal and the inner meaning of the information provided. The allegory discusses a situation in the first scene where there are people seated in a cave staring into an empty wall. Behind them is a huge fire and in between the fire and the people is a pathway through which many people use. The people do not have the ability to see the people passing but can see the shadows formed on the wall (Soccio 134). According to the people seated in the cave, the images are real and nothing whatsoever can change their minds. This is set to imply knowledge in the contemporary environment. Over the years, people have had a difference in the access to education. There are those that have had the opportunity to attend decent schools and have had a good education while there are those who have got as far as a certain grade. The images portrayed on the wall are just but illusions and not the reality and this is as far as the people seated in the cave understand. They represent the few that never completed education and thus their knowledge only gets so far. In the allegory, he explains that the extent to which people are enlightened determines a lot on the day-to-day choices that people make and consequently affects their general life. According to Plato, most human beings tend to remain content with everything that they understand and do not have the urge to gain more understanding of the contemporary environment. The amount of knowledge is necessary in that people gain a perspective of the social and political systems. If people only understand the general senses of touch and sight but do not possess further knowledge, they would never understand the system in terms of justice and the concept of love that would make the world more habitable. Using the analogy that Plato expresses, there is the second scene where the people seated in the cave move from there and gain the ability to see the real humans passing on the pathway. This change from seeing shadows to seeing real people is the representation of the education system in the contemporary environment. As people change from being non-educated to gaining a sense of education, there are very many problems involved. Some people may find it rather difficult to conform to the changes experienced. This is from the satisfaction of average knowledge while others may react negatively to this from lack of understanding the importance of education. This exact reaction was portrayed in Plato’s analogy where the people did not believe in the veracity that they were introduced to. The people did not believe in the evident reality and stated that the shadows that they had seen on the walls of the cave were the real representations. According to the allegory, the fire was the source of illumination that made it possible for the people in the cave to see the shadows on the wall. However, after having the ability to turn from the wall and seeing the real people, they found the sun as the source of illumination that made it possible to see the real human beings (Soccio 136). From the analogy, the sun represents the truth. This is from the fact that the sun is the bearer of light and not the illusion formed by the fire. Incorporating that into the contemporary world, when people start getting educated, they start discovering the truth such as their rights and freedoms that could have otherwise passed unnoticed to their uneducated minds. Prior to turning and realizing the real people other than the shadows, the allegory had stated that the people in the cave had developed a game through which the individuals could try to understand and figure out the images of people passing and the first one to recognize a figure correctly could get praise from the rest. For one to recognize a certain figure it was imperative that the people paid attention repeatedly while people were passing. This is replicated in the contemporary environment where people understand things after repeated training. Just like the people in the cave before gaining knowledge, people without knowledge try to understand the various mechanisms of life and train in different informal sectors repeatedly in an effort to perfect their skills. This goes further to show that enlightenment not only comes around from formal education but also from natural characteristics and training. It is also important to recognize that enlightenment also serves to give a sense and purpose to life. As described by Plato, the prisoners in the cave tended to wonder if there existed a way through which they could get to identify the shadows passing by faster and consequently gain praise. This is where the third scene comes in where the first bunch of freed prisoners after getting enlightenment headed back to the cave in an effort to free those trapped in the illusion. Despite the hardships that the first bunch of freed prisoners went through in an effort to understand the changes around them, they had no choice but to later on conform to the reality that the people expressed on the wall were just illusions. This gave them a purpose of life as they sought to ensure that all the people trapped got to experience reality just as they did (Soccio 137). The reality in this third scene is the same reality in the contemporary world where we learn that the people trapped in the cave as per the allegory are the people who have an education. The act of going back to the cave to draw the remaining people and enlighten them is the same as how people in this century tend to assist the misfortune in society by awareness which is done through forums and paying of fees for those not capable enough to go to school. The understanding of the allegory is important in that it helps us realize that the struggles that humanity goes through in his fight against ignorance have been there for long. This acts as some form of empowerment and a driving force to ensure that people gain enlightenment for the greater good. This is from the fact that an educated lot would lead to further developments in various fields and with the recognition of certain natural aspects such as love, this enlightenment would bring harmony to society. Work Cited Soccio, Douglas. Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers, 2009. Print. Read More