Analogy Of The Cave 5g1729

B) The Analogy of the Cave tells is nothing about reality.’ Discuss. The Analogy of the cave basically presents us with a real life representation of the two realms, and how humanity as a whole reacts to both learning the ‘truth’ and accepting the ‘truth’. Plato used this story as a microcosm to represent our reality, further more explain to everyday people how what they believe to be the indicative truth, was actually just another shadow. What is reality? Reality is a state of things as they actually exist; in other words, it is the medium in which we live in that defines as “real”. This was the foundation to Plato’s argument: everything in the physically realm is constantly changing; living organisms are growing, adapting, dying – even the static objects in our world are sub-atomically shifting. Thus Plato concluded that if everything is different every time we see it, then there must be something more to our senses which depict our recollection and recognition despite these definitive changes – Plato believes this is our soul. The analogy of the cave is very vague when describing the difficulty Alf went through after discovering the World beyond the cave; this is because Plato wanted to emphasize the initiate ability of mankind to recognise the truth once we’re experiencing it. Plato goes further to describe to us that Alf’s ease of acceptance is due to prior knowledge of his soul; the one perfect part of us that has actually experience the truth – The World of Forms. The central argument to the statement above is that the Analogy of the Cave tells us everything about reality, because it introduces us to the only thing that is definitively perfect. Yes, Plato uses the analogy of the cave to compare the shadows on the stone to our world, but more importantly Plato uses the analogy as a foundation to explaining the World of Forms to everyday people: the emphasis on ignorance holds back almost any chance of rejection, as people don’t want to categorise themselves with that label. Socrates described Forms as the perfect depiction of everything, yet in an imperfect, world perfection cannot exist thus the Realm of Forms; the true reality in which our world is simply based upon. Not only did Plato continue this teaching, but he also suggested that there’s a hierarchy of forms hence the addition of the sun: a commanding figure which makes night day, controls the seasons and the weather, makes the plants grow on which the animals feed on; the form what can only be described today as God.

Many would argue that there’re copious amounts of knowledge to Plato’s Analogy of the Cave, because it describes reality as something more than just what our senses make it out to be. Simultaneously it allows us to recognise the ignorance of those who are confronted with the truth, but still choose not to accept it. In reference to the allegory the others who refused Alf’s word represent those who refuse to acknowledge wider truths, because a false world is sometimes easier to inhabit than a true one. But, there’re many in which argue that these characteristics more specifically embody people who refuse to acknowledge past, present and future Philosophers –more precisely Socrates; Plato’s teacher. Concluding the personifications of ignorance, Plato uses the analogy to highlight that it was purely the lack of knowledge which induced the contemptuous actions; directly linking falsified knowledge with ignorance as there were no other variables. On the other hand, Plato later on digressed to explain that in the physical realm, true knowledge cannot be obtained as our world is imperfect; any information acquired would be corrupt. Nowadays the majority would disagree with Plato’s philosophies, as the analogy of the cave is only another story, and not a reality: society tends to be more pragmatic. This is because over the years we have come to depend on our senses as an innate reflex of survival, thus when presented with an idea that contradicts everything we believe to be true; that contradicts everything we have come to depend upon, what would we have left to be sure about? Despite the implication of the allegory, the main argument is that Plato’s point was people are ignorant of the truth – there is no proof that the Realm of Forms is true! The entire argument is based upon the idea that because the World is infinitely changing, the physical realm isn’t true. But many would use the same argument Plato used; ‘just because we can’t process everything we know with our senses, it doesn’t mean this world isn’t real’. In conclusion just like any other Allegory, the Analogy of the Cave tells us multiple views and morals about reality because it highlights to what extent society can neglect the knowledge that can be learnt from others. Plato’s aim was to use the analogy of the cave to emphasise the impact of ignorance, as a result maximising the stability of his following argument – The Realm of Forms. However in the end, the Allegory of the Cave is the reality of Plato’s time, ours has changed.