Baker 1

Julianna Baker
Ms. Alapin
English 102
10-05-14
Platos cave analogy
The unexamined life is not worth living -Socrates
Question every word in this paper, and you will start to understand the message of
education in Platos allegory of the cave. Knowledge can be gained by questioning and exploring
everything in our world. The story discusses prisoners who experience life stuck in a narrow
state of mind. The prisoners spent their life only viewing shadows on the cave wall in front of
them. This paper is just a projection of my own thoughts of Platos message. The way this paper
is being viewed is much like the shadows the prisoners believed were all that existed. Life is
much deeper than what are senses are letting us experience at this moment. The message of
education in Platos allegory of the cave is to not be a prisoner and just accept what we believe to
be true. What we are experiencing may only be a shadow of truth. Free yourself to experience
life, not just the shadow of a life.
In Platos the allegory of the cave, we have a story of prisoners chained, The men have
been chained foot and neck since childhood. The chains keep them in place and prevent them
from turning their heads, so that they only see forward (Plato 175). They do not question the
images they see. The shadows on the cave wall are the only thing of truth to the prisoners.
Baker 2


Beginning in early childhood until our twenties our frontal lobe is developing, The area at the
uppermost front of the brain, responsible for reasoning and planning our actions (Belsky 142).
The men are living a very unnatural existence for a human. Our brains need to experience a lot of
different types of education. A huge part of human development happens during physical play.
During playtime in childhood, people develop gross and fine motor skills, the abilities that
involve large and small movements. These men are no longer being able to experience life, just
shadows of life. They have been so deprived mentally; they most likely wouldnt need physical
chains to keep them stuck inside a cave.
One prisoner is forced outside. At first hed most easily make out shadows, then
apparitions of people and things in water, then the things themselves (Plato 176). This means
education takes time. Our brains take decades to fully develop. Education is some that can
continue to develop during our entire life. The prisoner who was set free started the story just
looking at shadows. He learns the shadows are made by different objects. Now that he has a new
understanding of what was happening inside the cave, and what is going on outside the cave.
This man can continue to explore and question life outside the cave he was stuck in. He can
question how everything got there, and why these people and things exist. He has the capability
to live as humans are meant to live.
Being chained up in a cave is a very un-natural human experience. The chains are meant
to symbolize our narrow minded thoughts and our own personal beliefs that have no true
knowledge behind. The prisoner, who let free from the cave, was able to explore without
symbolic mental chains. Without being chained down by our own personal narrow minded
thoughts we are free to experience a greater knowledge. Plato explains how the freed prisoners
eyes must adjust to the dark of the cave again.
Baker 3


And if they could get their hands on the one who was trying to release them and lead them
upward, wouldnt they kill him? Most violently (Plato176). Plato says the prisoners would kill
him, if he tried to free them. Not only are they physically being tortured, but mentally as well.
After the freed prisoner was able to explore, he wants to go back to tell the other prisoners what
he has seen outside of the cave. The prisoners do not have the mental ability to understand him.
That part of develop was taken away from them.
The men in the story are not free to explore or question life. Humans have the ability to
question for a reason. To take away a persons ability to explore and question, is taking away life
from them. Their bodies are not the only thing being tied down their soul is as well. The soul is
the principle of life, feeling, thought and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate
from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from the body (dictionary.com).
The shadows the men see are very real, but shadows are not all that extists. The prisoners have
no knowledge of introspection observation or examination of ones own mental and emotional
state, mental processes, etc; the act of looking within oneself (dictionary.com). A life worth
living includes being educated. Education is freeing your spirit from being tied down and being
able to explore the possibilities of life. People should not replace that questioning ability we have
with overwhelming fear. Fear, which will keep us stuck, weather in a cave, or any existence less
than the one we are meant to live.
In conclusion, I hope you will question every word in this paper, about the message of
education in Platos allegory of the cave. Knowledge can be gained by questioning and exploring
everything in our world. What we are experiencing may only be a shadow of truth. Platos
message is to free ourselves from these mental chains to experience life, not just the shadow of a
life.
Baker 4


Works Cited

Belsky, Janet (2013). Experiencing The Lifespan (3
rd
ed.) New York, NY Worth
Publishers
Bullhead Entertaiment. The Cave: An Adaptation of Platos Allegory in Clay. Online
video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 18 Apr. 2008. Web 18 September 2014
"Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words ..." Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Plato. Republic. Trans. Raymond Larson. Wheeling: Harlan Davidson, 1979. Print