The
Allegory of the Cave
by Plato
Questions & Assignment by Andrew Gottlieb
The Allegory of the Cave
by Plato
‘If we’re thinking about the effect of education—or the lack of it—on our nature, there’s another comparison we can make. Picture human beings living in some sort of underground cave dwelling, with an entrance which is long, as wide as the cave, and open to the light. Here they live, from earliest childhood, with their legs and necks in chains, so that they have to stay where they are, looking only ahead of them, prevented by the chains from turning their heads. They have light from a distant fire, which is burning behind them and above them. Between the fire and the prisoners, at a higher level than them, is a path along which you must picture a low wall that has been built, like the screen which hides people when they are giving a puppet show, and above which they make the puppets appear.’
‘Yes, I can picture all that,’ he said.
‘Picture also, along the length of the wall, people carrying all sorts of implements which project above it, and statues of people, and animals made of stone and wood and all kinds of materials. As you’d expect, some of the people carrying the objects are speaking, while others are silent.’
‘A strange picture. And strange prisoners.’
‘No more strange than us,’ I said. ‘Do you think that, for a start, that prisoners of that sort have ever seen anything more of themselves and of one another than the shadows cast by the fire on the wall of the cave in front of them?’
‘How could they, if they had been prevented from moving their heads all their lives?’ ‘What about the objects which are being carried? Wouldn’t they see only shadows of these also?”
‘Yes, of course.’
‘So if they were able to talk to one another, don’t you think they’d believe that the things they were giving names to were the things they could see passing?’
‘Yes, they’d be bound to.’
‘What if the prison had an echo from the wall in front of them? Every time one of the people passing by spoke, do you suppose they’d believe the source of the sound to be anything other than the passing shadow?’
‘No, that’s exactly what they would think.’
‘All in all, then, what people in this situation would take for truth would be nothing more than the shadows of the manufactured objects.’
‘Necessarily.’
‘Yes, he would. Much more true.’
‘If he was forced to look at the light itself, wouldn’t it hurt his eyes? Wouldn’t he turn away, and run back to the things he could see? Wouldn’t he think those things really were clearer than what was being pointed out?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘And if he was dragged out of there by force, up the steep and difficult path, with no pause until he had been dragged right out into the sunlight, wouldn’t he find this dragging painful? Wouldn’t he resent it? And when he came into the light, with his eyes filled with the glare, would he be able to see a single one of the things he is now told are true?’
‘No, he wouldn’t. Not at first.’
‘He’d need to acclimatize himself, I imagine, if he were going to see things up there. To start with, he’d find shadows the easiest things to look at. After that, reflections—of people and other things—in water. The things themselves would come later, and from those he would move on to the heavenly bodies and the heavens themselves. He’d find it easier to look at the light of the stars and the moon by night than look at the sun and the light of the sun, by day.’
‘Of course.’
‘The last thing he’d be able to look at, presumably, would be the sun. Not its image, in water or some location that is not its own, but the sun itself. He’d be able to look at it by itself, in its own place, and see it as it really was.’
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘unquestionably.’
‘At that point he would work out that it was the sun which caused the seasons and the years, which governed everything in the visible realm, and which was in one way or another responsible for everything they used to see.’
‘That would obviously be the next stage.’
‘Now, suppose he were reminded of the place where he lived originally, of what passed for wisdom there, and of his former fellow-prisoners. Don’t you think he would congratulate himself on the change? Wouldn’t he feel sorry for them?’
‘Indeed he would.’
‘Back in the cave they might have had rewards and praise and prizes for the person who was quickest at identifying the passing shapes, who had the best memory for the ones which came earlier or later or simultaneously, and who as a result was best at predicting what was going to come next. Do you think he would feel any desire for these prizes? Would he envy those who were respected and powerful there? Or would he feel as Achilles does in Homer? Would he much prefer “to labour as a common serf, serving a man with nothing to his name,” putting up with anything to avoid holding those opinions and living that life?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘If you ask me, he’d be prepared to put up with anything to avoid that way of life.’
‘There’s another question I’d like to ask you,’ I said. ‘Suppose someone like that came back down into the cave and took up his old seat. Wouldn’t he find, coming straight in from the sunlight, that his eyes were swamped by the darkness?’
‘I am sure he would.’
to go up there? As for anyone who tried to set them free, and take them up there, if they could somehow get their hands on him and kill him, wouldn’t they do just that?
‘They certainly would,’ he said.
‘That is the picture, then, my dear Glaucon. And it fits what we were talking about earlier in its entirety. The region revealed to us by sight is the prison dwelling, and the light of the fire inside the dwelling is the power of the sun. If you identify the upward path and the view of things above with the ascent of the soul to the realm of understanding, then you will have caught my drift—my surmise—which is what you wanted to hear. Whether it is really true, perhaps only god knows. My own view, for what it’s worth, is that in the realm of what can be known the things seen last, and seen with great difficulty, is the form or character of the good. But when it is seen, the conclusion must be that it turns out to be the cause of all that is right and good for everything. In the realm of sight it gives birth to light and light’s sovereign, the sun, while in the realm of thought it is itself sovereign, producing truth and reason unassisted. I further believe that anyone who is going to act wisely either in private life or in public life must have had a sight of this.’
‘Well, I for one agree with you,’ he said. ‘As far as I can follow, at any rate.’
‘Can you agree with me, then, on one further point? It’s no wonder if those who have been to the upper world refuse to take an interest in everyday affairs, if their souls are constantly eager to spend their time in that upper region. It’s what you’d expect, presumably, if things really are like the picture we have just drawn.’
‘Yes, it is what you’d expect.’
‘And here’s another question. Do you think it’s at all surprising if a person who turns to everyday life after the contemplation of the divine cuts a sorry figure, and makes a complete fool of himself—if before he can see properly, or can get acclimatized to the darkness around him, he is compelled to compete, in the lawcourts or anywhere else, over the shadows of justice or the statues which cast those shadows, or to argue about the way they are understood by those who have never seen justice itself.’
‘No, it’s not in the least surprising,’ he said.
‘Anyone with any sense,’ I said, ‘would remember that people’s eyesight can be impaired in two quite different ways, and for two quite different reasons. There’s the change from light to darkness, and the change from darkness to light. He might then take it that the same is true of the soul, so that when he saw a soul in difficulties, unable to see, he would not laugh mindlessly, but would ask whether it had come from some brighter life and could not cope with the unfamiliar darkness, or whether it had come from greater ignorance in what was brighter, and was now dazzled by the glare. One he would congratulate on what it had seen, and on its way of life. The other he would pity. Or if he chose to laugh at it, his laughter would be less absurd than laughter directed at the soul which had come from the light above.’
‘Yes. What you say is entirely reasonable.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘if it’s true, there’s one conclusion we can’t avoid. Education is not what some people proclaim it to be. What they say, roughly speaking, is that they are able to put knowledge into souls where none was before. Like putting sight into eyes which were blind.’
‘Yes, that is what they say.’
away from what is coming to be, until it is able to bear the sight of what is, and in particular the brightest part of it. This is the part we call the good, isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Education, then, ‘ I said, ‘would be the art of directing this instrument, of finding the easiest and most effective way of turning it round. Not the art of putting the power of sight into it, but the art which assumes it possesses this power—albeit incorrectly aligned, and looking in the wrong direction—and contrives to make it look in the right direction.’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It looks as if that is what education is.’
From Plato, The Republic. Ed. G. R. F. Ferrari. Trans. Tom Griffith. New York: Cambridge UP, 2000. 220-26. (Book 7, sections 514a – 518d)
1. “Picture human beings living in some sort of underground cave dwelling, with an entrance which is long, as wide as the cave, and open to the light. Here they live, from earliest childhood, with their legs and necks in chains, so that they have to stay where they are, looking only ahead of them, prevented by the chains from turning their heads. They have light from a distant fire, which is burning behind them and above them. Between the fire and the prisoners, at a higher level than them, is a path along which you must picture a low wall that has been built, like the screen which hides people when they are giving a puppet show, and above which they make the puppets appear.”
a. Why does Plato choose to have the inhabitants “with their legs and necks in chains?” What might this imply about the human condition?
b. The “light from a distant fire” is a metaphor for something? What could that something be? Why is the light distant?
c. The puppets are a metaphor for something. What could that something be?
2. “Do you think that, for a start, that prisoners of that sort have ever seen anything more of themselves and of one another than the shadows cast by the fire on the wall of the cave in front of them?”
“All in all, then, what people in this situation would take for truth would be nothing more than the shadows of the manufactured objects.”
a. The shadows are a metaphor for something. What could that something be?
b. What do these statements imply about reality as we know it?
4. “So if they were able to talk to one another, don’t you think they’d believe that the things they were giving names to were the things they could see passing?”
5. “Suppose nature brought this state of affairs to an end,’ I said. ‘Think what their release from their chains and the cure for their ignorance would be like. When one of them was untied, and compelled suddenly to stand up, turn his head, start walking, and look towards the light, he’d find all these things painful. Because of the glare he’d be unable to see the things whose shadows he used to see before. What do you suppose he’d say if he was told that what he used to see before was of no importance, whereas now his eyesight was better, since he was closer to what is, and looking at things which more truly are? Suppose further that each of the passing objects was pointed out to him, and that he was asked what it was, and compelled to answer. Don’t you think he’d be confused? Wouldn’t he believe the things he saw before to be more true than what was being pointed out to him now?”
a. To what does this experience of revelation refer?
b. What would we be seeing if were released from our chains?
6. “And if he was dragged out of there by force, up the steep and difficult path, with no pause until he had been dragged right out into the sunlight, wouldn’t he find this dragging painful? Wouldn’t he resent it? And when he came into the light, with his eyes filled with the glare, would he be able to see a single one of the things he is now told are true?”
a. The sunlight is a metaphor for something. What might that something be?
b. Why would a cave dweller find the sunlight painful?
7. “Now, suppose he were reminded of the place where he lived originally, of what passed for wisdom there, and of his former fellow-prisoners. Don’t you think he would congratulate himself on the change? Wouldn’t he feel sorry for them?”
a. Why might the former prisoner feel sorry for his former fellow-prisoners? How does this idea apply to all of us?
b. Who amongst us are the prisoners?
8. “Back in the cave they might have had rewards and praise and prizes for the person who was quickest at identifying the passing shapes, who had the best memory for the ones which came earlier or later or simultaneously, and who as a result was best at predicting what was going to come next. Do you think he would feel any desire for these prizes? Would he envy those who were respected and powerful there? ”
a. Socrates asks, “Do you think he would feel any desire for these prizes?” How would you answer this question?
b. Socrates asks, “Would he envy those who were respected and powerful there?” How would you answer this question?
9. “And suppose he had to go back to distinguishing the shadows, in competition with those who had never stopped being prisoners. Before his eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, while he still couldn’t see properly—and this period of acclimatisation would be anything but short—wouldn’t he be a laughing-stock? Wouldn’t it be said of him that he had come back from his journey to the upper world with his eyesight destroyed, and that it wasn’t worth even trying to go up there? As for anyone who tried to set them free, and take them up there, if they could somehow get their hands on him and kill him, wouldn’t they do just that?”
a. Why would someone who returned from the world outside the prison be a laughing stock? What does this statement say about the world in which we all live?
b. Why would the prisoners say that the eyesight of the one who had left the cave had been destroyed? Whose perception is more truthful, the prisoners or the one who has seen the world outside the prison? What does this say about the world in which we all live?
d. Why would the prisoners want to kill anyone who tried to set them free? What does this say about the world in which we all live?
10. “The region revealed to us by sight is the prison dwelling, and the light of the fire inside the dwelling is the power of the sun. If you identify the upward path and the view of things above with the ascent of the soul to the realm of understanding, then you will have caught my drift—my surmise—which is what you wanted to hear. Whether it is really true, perhaps only god knows. My own view, for what it’s worth, is that in the realm of what can be known the things seen last, and seen with great difficulty, is the form or character of the good. But when it is seen, the conclusion must be that it turns out to be the cause of all that is right and good for everything. In the realm of sight it gives birth to light and light’s sovereign, the sun, while in the realm of thought it is itself sovereign, producing truth and reason unassisted. I further believe that anyone who is going to act wisely either in private life or in public life must have had a sight of this.”
a. Why do you think Socrates sees the region revealed to us by sight as a prison dwelling? Do you agree with this idea?
b. Socrates explains that the space illuminated by the fire of the sun is the “realm of understanding.” What does this imply about the source of wisdom?
11. “And here’s another question. Do you think it’s at all surprising if a person who turns to everyday life after the contemplation of the divine cuts a sorry figure, and makes a complete fool of himself—if before he can see properly, or can get acclimatized to the darkness around him, he is compelled to compete, in the lawcourts or anywhere else, over the shadows of justice or the statues which cast those shadows, or to argue about the way they are understood by those who have never seen justice itself.”
a. Why might someone who had contemplated the divine be likely to make a fool of himself?
b. When Socrates mentions those who have never seen justice itself, to whom is he referring?
c. What is the difference between justice and justice itself?
12. “Anyone with any sense,’ I said, ‘would remember that people’s eyesight can be impaired in two quite different ways, and for two quite different reasons. There’s the change from light to darkness, and the change from darkness to light. He might then take it that the same is true of the soul, so that when he saw a soul in difficulties, unable to see, he would not laugh mindlessly, but would ask whether it had come from some brighter life and could not cope with the unfamiliar darkness, or whether it had come from greater ignorance in what was brighter, and was now dazzled by the glare. One he would congratulate on what it had seen, and on its way of life. The other he would pity. Or if he chose to laugh at it, his laughter would be less absurd than laughter directed at the soul which had come from the light above.”
a. Does Socrates see himself as a soul who had from a brighter life or a soul who had come from greater ignorance in what was brighter?
13. “Education, then, ‘ I said, ‘would be the art of directing this instrument, of finding the easiest and most effective way of turning it round. Not the art of putting the power of sight into it, but the art which assumes it possesses this power—albeit incorrectly aligned, and looking in the wrong direction—and contrives to make it look in the right direction.”
a. Socrates believes that that we all have the power to see or discover truth, that we all possess this power and that education is a process that enables people to utilize this power. Do you think he believes this is what happens in most schools?
b. Do you think this is what happens in most schools?
c. Do you think Socrates believes that what is going on in most schools is truly education?
e. Do we all have the power to see or discover truth?
f. What is truth?
14. How do you think most of Socrates’ contemporaries viewed his idea of education?
16. What do you think of Socrates’ idea of education?
17. If we were to apply Socrates idea of education in our schools today, how do you think they would be different?
18. If we all lived according to Socrates’ vision of reality and learning, how do you think our world would be different?
19. Look up Plato’s Theory of Forms.
a. What does Plato’s Theory of Forms have to do with the
Allegory of The Cave?
c. Who would be more likely to understand forms, the prisoners in the cave or the one who had ventured outside of it?
20. Look up Plato’s Recollection Theory.
a. What does Plato’s Recollection Theory have to do with the
Allegory of The Cave?
b. What does Plato’s Recollection Theory have to do with his concept of education as expressed in the Allegory of The Cave?
21. What do you think of Plato’s Recollection Theory?
22. What does Plato’s Theory of Forms have to do with his Recollection Theory?
23. How does Plato use the Allegory of The Cave to illuminate his Theory of Forms and his
Recollection Theory?
24. Do you believe that truth can be attained by reason alone? If so, can you provide an example of how this can be done?
26. Can truth be discovered through mathematics? If so, provide an example demonstrating how this can be done. An answer to this question requires a definition of truth.
27. Which is more constant, what we perceive with our senses or what we conceive with our mind?
28. Which do you think is truth, what we perceive with our senses or what we conceive with our mind?
29. Do you believe that everything is changing?
31. Do you believe in the eternal?
32. Which of the two following beliefs is more likely to lead to a fulfilling life? Explain your answer.
Everything is changing. Reality is change.
Some things are constant. The eternal is real.
33.Look up the words rationalist and empiricist. a. What is the difference between these?
Writing Assignment for Plato’s
Allegory of the Cave
Select ONE of the writing assignments below and write a paper.
The paper must be
3
double pages and satisfy all of the specifications on the following page to receive credit.1. What is the meaning of the Allegory of The Cave. Who are the prisoners? Who is the one who has gone to the upper world? What is the difference between the cave and the upper world? In which world to most of us exist? What is likely to happen to one who returns to the prison after visiting the upper world? What does it take to go to the upper world? Can anyone go there? Can you go there? Have you ever been to the upper world?
2. What is Socrates idea of education? Do you think his idea was shared by most of his
contemporaries? Do you think most educators today share Socrates’ view of education? If most educators shared Socrates’ view of education, how do you think schools would be different? If most people shared Socrates’ view of education, how might the world be different? Explain why you agree or disagree with Socrates’ view of education.
Suggestions:
Your introduction should include a definition of the word allegory.
An allegory is a story in which the people, places, and things represent ideas.
You then need to make a list of the people, places, and things in the allegory.
These are: the cave, the region outside the cave, the prisoners, the objects outside the cave, the shadows cast on the wall of the cave.
The next step is to explain what these things mean.
1. The cave is the material realm.
2. The region outside the cave is the realm of understanding, pure thought, pure spirit.
3. The prisoners are all of us who are living in the material realm, meaning those of us who are locked into a material mindset and who have not questioned this way of thinking.
4. The objects outside the cave are the Forms, perfect conceptions or models from which we derive our understanding of all things. In the realm of understanding there is only one conception of things such as beauty, justice, and goodness. In the material realm there may be many imperfect notions of these.
Specifications for the Papers
PAPERS MUST SATISFY ALL OF THE SPECIFICATIONS TO RECEIVE CREDIT.
1. Each essay must be typed.
2. Font size must be 12.
3. Font style must be Times New Roman.
4. The name of the student, professor, course, and date must be flush left with a double-space between each. See example on page 9.
5. Each essay must be double-spaced.
6. For citations more than one sentences, use the following specifications. See example on page 9.
a. single-space b. font size 10
c. left indent at 1 right indent at 5.5.
7. Each paragraph must be indented.
8. There must be no more than one double-space between paragraphs.
9. Each page of each essay must be numbered in the upper right-hand corner.
10.Each essay must be stapled in the upper left-hand corner.
Formatting Your Paper
First Page
This is an example of the top of the first page of a paper.
Use double-spaces. The title must be a double-space below the date and centered. See MLA Handbook - Seventh Edition. 4.3. Heading And Title. 116.
Internal Punctuation
Long Quotations
This is an example of how to do a citation longer than one sentence.
ksfsdfsalsfdjkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkks;dflkaks;fldskf;sdlllllllllllllllllwks;dlfk’safdksa;
Works Cited Page
1
John Smith
Professor Abraham
English 201
May 7, 2009
Greek Tragedy
“In the very first year of our century Sigmund Freud in his Interpretation of Dreams offered a famous and influential interpretation of Oedipus the King:
Oedipus Rex is what is known as a tragedy of destiny. Its tragic effect is said to lie in the contrast between supreme will of the gods and the vain attempts of mankind to escape the evil that threatens them. The lesson which, it is said, the deeply moved spectator should learn from the tragedy is submission to the divine will and realization of his own impotence.
(Trans. James Strachey)
This passage is of course a landmark in the history of modern thought, and it is fascinating to observe that this idea, which, valid or not, has had enormous influence, stems from an attempt to answer a literary problem – why does the play have this overpowering effect on modern audiences?”
(Knox, Bernard. Sophocles – The Three Theban Plays. Translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Books. Copyright by Bernhard Knox, 1982. 132. Print.)
When citing a source in the text do as follows: “Oedipus in the play is a free agent” (Fagles, 149).
This is an example of the top of the first page of a works-cited list.
Entries are in alphabetical order with second lines of each entry indented (hanging indentation). See MLA Handbook - Seventh Edition. 131.
The Works Cited page must be on a separate page.
7
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. Edited by Edward Hubler.
A Signet Classic. Copyright by Edward Hubler, 1963. Print.
Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays – Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oeidipus at Colonus.
