Philosophers: Plato Flashcards
What story is Plato famous for?
He is famous for Plato’s Cave Allegory. As he was concerned about the problem of appearance and reality he created this story to show the difference between the two that there was another reality.
What is the cave analogy?
A group of people have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall.
The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and give names to these shadows.
The shadows are the prisoners’ reality.
One of the prisoners finds out it is not real and tries to escape.
The inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life.
The prisoners manage to break their bonds one day, and discover that their reality was not what they thought it was.
What does he want us to believe from the story?
to compare “the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature”. Humans can only use their impressions. If, however, we were to miraculously escape our bondage, we would find a world that we could not understand, another “realm”, a higher reality than the one we have always known; it is the realm of Pure Form, pure facts.
