Plato s Allegory Of The Cave Compared To The Human...
The Allegory
Because of how we live, true reality is not obvious to most of us. However, we
mistake what we see and hear for reality and truth. This is the basic premise for
Plato #25263; Allegory of the Cave, in which prisoners sit in a cave, chained down,
watching images cast on the wall in front of them. They accept these views as
reality and they are unable to grasp their overall situation: the cave and images are
a ruse, a mere shadow show orchestrated for them by unseen men. At some point, a
prisoner is set free and is forced to see the situation inside the cave. Initially, one
does not want to give up the security of his or her familiar reality; the person has to
be dragged past the fire and up the entranceway. This is a ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Prisoners, watching life unfold on the cave wall in front of them, accepting what they
see as truth, as reality, are literally people. Every average person in this world is a
prisoner, chained down. These chains that bind the prisoners to the floor are
beliefs. Take clothes for instance, a person may not have very much money, so they
should not spend enormous amounts on clothing, but the fear of not being
accepted due to out of style clothes requires said person to spend too much money
on their clothes. The fear spoken of is derivative of the person #25263; beliefs,
holding them to abide by the cultural norms, in this case purchasing over priced
clothing. The prisoners are gazing at shadows on the wall, until he or she breaks
free. To break free in this world, you must look at objects, individuals, cities and
societies, even the universe as a whole, with reason. Do not simply rely on
perceptions and senses to grasp concepts.
People carrying figures of humans, animals, and plants crafted from wood or
stone, cast images on the wall for the prisoners to gawk at. These people are the
political, business, and educational leaders that feed the average person their own
ideologies, beliefs about various things. These individuals are in today #25263;
society, people like George Bush, the President. He makes decisions for us, and tells
us what to believe on certain subjects. After the attack on our country, he decided to
send