The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this. Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etcћ without (so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms. Plat’s Phaedra contains similar imagery to that of the allegory of the Cave a philosopher recognizes that before philosophy, his soul was “a veriTABLE prisoner fast bound within his body… And that instead of investigating reality by itself and in itself it is compelled to peer through the bars of its 1. Those who have ascended to this highest level, however, must not remain there but must return to the cave and dwell with the prisoners, sharing in their labors and honors. Socrates informs Glaucoma that the most excellent must learn the greatest of all studies, which is to behold the Good. Only knowledge of the Forms constitutes real knowledge. The allegory may be related to Plat’s Theory of Forms, according to which the “Forms” (or “Ideas”), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. The shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to designate names to these shadows. Maybe someday we will discover something beyond our perception of reality, perhaps a four-dimensional world until then be open to escape the chains of ignorance and step outside the cave.Plato has Socrates describe a gathering of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. Maybe one day we will discover their ideal forms. But once we break out of our comfort zone and escape from the cave we will realise that things in our physical world are as flawed as the shadows on the wall of the cave. In ignorance we are at comfort, ignorance is bliss. In life we are sometimes confined to our reality, chained in ignorance. They were comfortable in their ignorance and didn’t want to get out of their comfort for a better life. The philosopher is like the caveman who got out of the cave and explored the outside world when he tried to share this with the other prisoners they were hostile towards him, they refused to perceive a higher reality and didn’t even desire to get out of the cave. Plato explains this allegory as an analogy of what it is like to be a philosopher trying to educate the public. Ignorance chains you from looking beyond your reality They refused to leave the cave and resisted his attempts to free them. The prisoners believed that the other prisoner’s journey has made him stupid and blind. Not being used to the darkness anymore he couldn’t see the shadows. The prisoner returned to the cave and shared his discovery with the other prisoners. But gradually his eyes adjusted to reality and he was able to differentiate objects from their reflections and could finally look at the sun. When he was told that all the objects he is seeing are real and shadows are just reflections he couldn’t believe it. When he saw the outside, the sun’s bright light almost blinds him, he finds the new environment confusing and out of place as for him the two-dimensional shadows were his reality. One day a prisoner was freed and brought to the outside world for the first time. They believed their reality is the actual reality. On the wall they saw shadows being projected they saw objects and other animal’s shadows and gave names to classify the shadows. They faced a blank wall while a fire behind them gave off a faint light. In the allegory, there were three prisoners chained to the wall of a cave all their lives and had no knowledge of the outside world. Ignorance chains you from looking beyond your reality.
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