Pain

tale of a dramatic exit from the cave is the source of true understanding.


the light of the sun would be much more brilliant than the fire. But as his eyes adjusted, the newly freed
prisoner would be able to see beyond only shadows; he would see dimensions, and reflections in the
water (even of himself).

he would take no pleasure in their accolades or praise for knowledge of the shadow-figures; for their own
part, the prisoners would see him as deranged, not really knowing what reality it, and would say of him
that he left the cave and returned with corrupted eyes.

Socrates' (and Plato's) point is that, once we understand what reality is (the Forms), it is the job of the
informed to lead the ignorant 'out of the cave' and into true knowledge. This means, of course, that those
who still are uninformed will resist--since, after all, the cave is all they've ever known--but this doesn't
change the obligation of the enlightened philosopher to try, and keep trying, to help his fellow citizens.

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-allegory-of-the-cave-by-plato-summary-analysis-
explanation.html#lesson

http://english1302-2aseven.wikispaces.com/file/view/Group7-Allegory.pdf


The Escape
As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former view of reality was wrong.
He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be real.
The Return
The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings.
They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.
The Cave
In Platos theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear
in the world empirical evidence. The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a
cave of misunderstanding.
The Game
The Game represents how people believe that one person can be a master when they have knowledge of
the empirical world. Plato is demonstrating that this master does not actually know any truth, and
suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this.
The Escape
The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside of
the senses.
The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge
His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey when finding truth and wisdom
The Return
The other prisoners reaction to the escapee returning represents that people are scared of knowing
philosophical truths and do not trust philosophers.

that is true we should not relie on our senses perception instead we should goes beyond these senses
perception where we can attain the true knowledge

http://philosophyzer.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/the-allegory-of-the-cave-by-plato-summary-and-
meaning/

In the outer world, there is light and everything is clearly visible. If one of the chained people is
released from the cave world, and if he is taken to the outer world he cannot see anything at first
because his eyes dazzle in the light. But if he stays in the outer world, slowly and gradually he
begins to identify everything and he becomes to realize that the outer world is the real world and the
cave world is the unreal world. He becomes gratified with himself and remembers the other people in
the cave. He gives pity and sympathy over the cave people who are lost in darkness. - See more at:

He thinks that it is better to be the slave in the outer world rather than being the king inside the cave.
Even though, he does not want to go back to the cave world, his eyes dazzle more if he is taken
back to the cave world, and he cant count anything inside darkness. If he attempts to persuade the
people inside the cave saying that the outer world is the real world, and the cave world is unreal, his
ignorant friends kill him. - See more at:
http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/creationofknowledge/allegory-of-the-
cave.html#sthash.x2aM43aL.dpuf


The dark cave symbolically suggests the contemporary world of ignorance and the chained people
symbolize ignorant people in this ignorant world. The raised wall symbolizes the limitation of our
thinking and the shadow symbolically suggest the world of sensory perception which Plato considers
an illusion. In his opinion, the appearance is false and reality is somewhere, which we cannot see.
Plato as an ideal philosopher says that the appearing world is just the imitation or photocopy of the
real world. The shadows represent such photocopy and, the reality is possible to know with the
spiritual knowledge. The chains symbolize our limitation in this material world so that we cannot
know the reality to know reality; we have to break the material world. The outer world of the light
symbolically suggests the world of spiritual reality, which we achieve by breaking the chains that are
used to tie us. The dazzling of our eyes for the first time symbolizes difficulty of denies the material
world. The second time dazzling of the eyes symbolizes our difficulty to accept ignorance after
knowing the reality. Hence, in allegory of the cave Plato has given a criticism over our limited
existence in the material world. - See more at:
http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/creationofknowledge/allegory-of-the-
cave.html#sthash.x2aM43aL.dpuf

He says that there are two types of perception: sensory perception and spiritual perception. Sensory
perception is the world of appearance, which we perceive, with the help of our sensory organs. For
this, world is the world of illusion. It is the world of shadows so in Platos view it is the world of
falsehood. The reality or truth is impossible to perceive with our senses, it is possible through
spiritual perception, which is divine enlightenment. Spiritual perception is possible when we reject
the world of sensory perception so until and unless we break all the material chains we do not get
spiritual perception. It is the ideal philosophy of Plato and his spiritual perception as an ideal
concept. - See more at: http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/creationofknowledge/allegory-of-the-
cave.html#sthash.x2aM43aL.dpuf