Plato’s Cave
„Human perception cannot derive true knowledge, and instead, real knowledge can only come via philosophical reasoning.”
Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" is a concept devised by the philosopher to ruminate on the nature of belief versus knowledge. The allegory states that there exists prisoners chained together in a cave. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners are people carrying puppets or other objects. This casts a shadow on the other side of the wall. The prisoners watch these shadows, believing them to be real.
Plato posits that one prisoner could become free. He finally sees the fire and realizes the shadows are fake. This prisoner could escape from the cave and discover there is a whole new world outside that they were previously unaware of.
This prisoner would believe the outside world is so much more real than that in the cave. He would try to return to free the other prisoners. Upon his return, he is blinded because his eyes are not accustomed to actual sunlight. The chained prisoners would see this blindness and believe they will be harmed if they try to leave the cave.
Plato uses this allegory as a way to discuss the deceptive appearances of things we see in the real world. Through it, he encourages people to instead focus on the abstract realm of ideas.
The path to enlightenment is painful and arduous, says Plato, and requires that we make four stages in our development.
- Imprisonment in the cave (the imaginary world)
- Release from chains (the real, sensual world)
- Ascent out of the cave (the world of ideas)
- The way back to help our fellows.
There’s something inherently haunting about Plato’s allegory. A person has to recognize everything up until this point in their life has been a lie.
