The Allegory of the Cave - An Analysis

The Allegory of The Cave is a timeless classic written by Plato, a Greek philosopher, on a conversation between Glaucus, his brother, and Socrates, a Greek philosopher who was the mentor of Glaucus and Plato. 

The story explains a situation where a group of prisoners are chained together in a cave and can only face the wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners are people carrying statues, puppets, or other objects. These objects and people cast shadows in the cave. The prisoners, having no prior knowledge of the world around them, name the objects and passersby different things, and try guessing which shadow will appear next. They live in a bubble and no one can tell them what is believed to be “wrong” from “right.” The world around them is shaped by their beliefs. 

One day, a prisoner is allowed to leave the cave. After staying in a place so dimly lit, and being fed with all the notions of the outside world, it takes some time getting used to his new reality, both physically and mentally. After some time to adjust to the sunlight. The ex-prisoner explores the land, takes in the scenery, the people, and even makes some friends that help him understand the world better. The prisoner realizes that there is so much more that is left to be discovered. They have a minerva experience, a rush of knowledge and an eagerness to learn more. After knowing so much, it is hard to go back to the small cave that he previously lived in. His views will forever be altered. He now knows that the beliefs that he had before are much different to those on the outside. 

When he returns to the cave to free the others from the chains, he is blinded because his eyes have not yet adjusted to the lighting in the cave. The other prisoners, scared that this might happen to them as well, do not escape the cave. 

While this is an interesting tale, it is important to know its meaning. The scenario was created by Plato to make people think deeper about the nature of belief versus knowledge. It symbolizes human perception, ideologies, illusions, opinions, and ignorance. In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world. The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge (knowledge gained from experience) are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding. However the escaped prisoner represents a person, perhaps a philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the ‘cave.’ The sun, which opened the eyes of the escapee, represents truth, and knowledge. The other prisoners are scared of the ‘sun’ or ‘light’ and how it will change their view of the world. They do not trust the escapee. Instead, they prefer to be, ‘kept in the dark’ both figuratively and literally. 

Like philosopher Karl R. Popper once said, “true ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.” The story tells people to be open minded, to accept new concepts, and try to understand them. Ignorance is part of human nature. Everyone is born inside the darkness, unaware of the many truths of the world. However, it is important to note that you can escape the cave. Our world and ideas are always changing. While we may not get to know everything, we should still try to learn new things and look at the world from different perspectives.