Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Abby Kuhlman and I collaborated to answer these questions.

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
The allegory of the cave deals with the relationship between ignorance and enlightenment and charts the path to becoming a philosopher: one with a greater understanding of the world around him. The prisoners in the cave know only of the tip of the iceberg while the philosopher can see everything below the surface as well. There is more to everything that we perceive and this will only be apparent if you exit the cave.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The cave itself, prisoners, light/darkness, and the shadows.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
The path to becoming enlightened can be painful to someone who has lived with such a narrow view of the world. The influx of new information will be immense and almost inconceivable and this causes us to turn from it and try to seek what we had once known as true (when you feel blinded by the light so you look away to the darkness). Eventually we become accustomed to the light and realize that the shadows on the walls (our narrow-mindedness) were far different than from what actually made them.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and cave suggest that the prisoners are being forced into their ignorance. also, that if they were given the choice, the prisoners would turn and go to to the light. however they are prevented of doing so by the shackles.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
The media which provides a biased and distorted view of the truth. They force us to believe one thing when in reality the truth is something completely different.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
Well it seems that the freed prisoner learns of a new sense of reality when he was released. He saw what was true and actually in front of him, not merely shadows on a wall. However the cave prisoners cannot be called ignorant because they don't know any better. All their lives they knew of the strange beings that appeared in front of them and were never given the opportunity to explore.

7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
Lack of clarity and confusion occurred when the prisoners only saw the shadows and were unable to see what the actual object was. They couldn't look beyond and therefore couldn't learn to see the true meaning behind what they saw. This gave them no way of understanding.

8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
Cave prisoners become free when they are released to the outside world. They learn the true nature of things and adapt to the reality that comes. This then leads to their intellectual freedom because knowledge is finally being gained. No longer would they be sitting staring at images on walls and not knowing how they were actually being produced.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Appearances are never true to reality, they are mirages we create to fit in and conform to a society that demands a certain picturesque image. It is why we always say never judge a book by its cover: the outer self does not always match up with the inner.

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
I think that an alternate would be if reality was to be based off of our intuition. Therefore what we think, how we act, and what we want can all be related together with what our lifestyle is like. Also assumptions can be made and lead us toward different paths, but it's still our decision to be who we are and continue learning the unknown.