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Plato's 'Allegory Of The Cave'

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Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a short narrative written by Plato to convey the feelings, thoughts, and obstacles a person faces as a philosopher. The story focuses on the tale of a group of humans bound to each other in dark cave, only two lights within the cave giving them any form of light. One of the humans breaks free of his binds within the cave, and ventures into the light, at first struggling to comprehend what he sees, but grows to love the world beyond the cave. He then goes back to free the other prisoners within the cave but each one of them reject his help, either being afraid or aggressive towards the freed prisoner as they believe he is below them for his newly changed beliefs. The situation represents the internal struggle suffered by philosophers with the …show more content…

The darkness of the cave and the enlightenment of one of its inhabitants once they steps out into the light is a metaphor for the act of a person becoming a philosopher in society. The narration given to describe the scorching heat from the light of the sun serves as both a metaphor for enlightenment as well as the strain of philosophy. A quote from the story accentuating the overall message of difficulty that comes with being a philosopher would be “And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?” using the enlightened one and the prisoners of the cave as metaphors and symbols for the hardships of philosophy. This example also serves as a focal point for the intended “logos” within the allegory, showing both the change occurring within a person when they embrace the notion of philosophy as well as the internal struggle of a philosopher within themselves to restrain their inclination to look down on others who they feel are below

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