Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Question 1

when did Plato live?

Answer 1

428-347 BC

Question 2

what was Plato’s body of work?

Answer 2

the republic

Question 3

what does Plato think of a posteriori knowledge?

Answer 3

it is no more than opinion

Question 4

what, for Plato, is truth?

Answer 4

a priori reasoning

Question 5

what is the purpose of the cave analogy?

Answer 5

to attempt to show the contrast between a priori knowledge and a posteriori knowledge

Question 6

describe the prisoners

Answer 6

been in the cave since birth

face the back of the cave

Question 7

explain the prisoners

Answer 7

ordinary people in the everyday world

Question 8

describe the chains

Answer 8

around the prisoners necks

makes them unable to turn around

Question 9

explain the chains

Answer 9

our senses that cause us to accept all that we see and hear

Question 10

describe the cave and the low wall

Answer 10

between the prisoners and the fire

Question 11

explain the cave and the low wall

Answer 11

the empirical world that we see around us

Question 12

describe the fire

Answer 12

burns behind the prisoners and casts shadows on the wall

Question 13

explain the fire

Answer 13

a copy of the form of the good

allows us to see the shadows

Question 14

describe the people and shadow play

Answer 14

behind the low wall a group of people are moving about and talking whilst holding puppets

Question 15

explain the people and shadow play

Answer 15

the illusions that we experience

sense data

Question 16

describe the prisoner set free

Answer 16

would feel pain and confusion

Question 17

explain the prisoner set free

Answer 17

the person who becomes a philosopher

Question 18

describe the difficult assent

Answer 18

he would be blinded by the light and unable to see

Question 19

explain the difficult assent

Answer 19

the road to philosophical knowledge is hard

Question 20

describe the reaction to the outside world

Answer 20

at first he would want to see the shadows of the cave again but slowly he would be amazed by the world

Question 21

explain the reaction to the outside world

Answer 21

this is the real world but it takes time to accept it

Question 22

describe the sun

Answer 22

the source of all life

Question 23

explain the sun

Answer 23

the form of all good

the highest form

Question 24

describe the return to the cave

Answer 24

he would go back to the cave and tell the others what he had seen

Question 25

explain the return to the cave

Answer 25

a philosophers duty to educate others

Question 26

describe the difficulty adjusting to darkness

Answer 26

his journey would have weakened his ability to predict the movement of the shadows

Question 27

explain the difficulty of adjusting to darkness

Answer 27

once you have been enlightened to real knowledge its hard to see the truth in empirical opinions

Question 28

describe the persecution by other prisoners

Answer 28

if he tried to convince the other prisoners to follow him they would think he’s insane and put him to death

Question 29

explain the persecution by the other prisoners

Answer 29

like Socrates the philosopher will be ridiculed and mistreated

Question 30

criticisms of the prisoners

Answer 30

if everyone was a philosopher science would have never progressed
unfair
implies that if you’re not a philosopher then you are inferior

Question 31

criticisms of the chains

Answer 31

it makes you narrow minded and judgemental
people still question things even though they trust their senses
if we didn’t have senses we wouldn’t function
Einstein, Newton

Question 32

criticisms of the cave

Answer 32

Plato is interested in beauty but cant see the beauty in the empirical world
its not a good metaphor for the real world

Question 33

criticisms of the fire

Answer 33

makes us sound primitive

it devalues how essential fire is