Plates Allegory of the Cave

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?

-It means that we only know what we see and will only know that unless we are shown the true reality. 

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?

-The prisoners represents our ignorance, the sun represents the truth that we don’t know, the shackles represent the things that hold us back.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?

-It suggests that when opportunity is thrusted upon you, you must take it.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?

-The shackles and the cave suggest that prisoners have no idea about life and what its really about. There are shackles on the prisoner’s mind.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?

- I feel like almost everything in our society puts shackles on our minds even my parents. They only tell me what they want me to know and won’t answer questions and they have done that since I was little. As we recently learned, the Internet search browsers put shackles on our minds they don’t give us all the facts they only show you what they think you should know. The government doesn’t reveal all the facts the public but maybe thats a good thing. The thing is that we will never know the whole picture so how can we truly know what we believe in.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?

- The perspective of the freed prisoner is that he has seen and therefore knows, but the cave prisoner only sees shadows therefore his only reality is the shadows.

7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?

-The freed prisoner is confused when he is released from the shackles because all he’s ever known is shadows so that is his reality. So when he enters the real world he must question what is reality.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?

-Their is a distinction between appearances and reality because the shadows were just the appearance of something but not the true reality of what it actually is.

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?

-An alternative assumption would be that because all the prisoner’s had come to know were the shadows and because of that the shadows are their reality.