Plato's Allegory of the Cave Flashcards
when did Plato live?
428-347 BC
what was Plato’s body of work?
the republic
what does Plato think of a posteriori knowledge?
it is no more than opinion
what, for Plato, is truth?
a priori reasoning
what is the purpose of the cave analogy?
to attempt to show the contrast between a priori knowledge and a posteriori knowledge
describe the prisoners
been in the cave since birth
face the back of the cave
explain the prisoners
ordinary people in the everyday world
describe the chains
around the prisoners necks
makes them unable to turn around
explain the chains
our senses that cause us to accept all that we see and hear
describe the cave and the low wall
between the prisoners and the fire
explain the cave and the low wall
the empirical world that we see around us
describe the fire
burns behind the prisoners and casts shadows on the wall
explain the fire
a copy of the form of the good
allows us to see the shadows
describe the people and shadow play
behind the low wall a group of people are moving about and talking whilst holding puppets
explain the people and shadow play
the illusions that we experience
sense data
describe the prisoner set free
would feel pain and confusion
explain the prisoner set free
the person who becomes a philosopher
describe the difficult assent
he would be blinded by the light and unable to see
explain the difficult assent
the road to philosophical knowledge is hard
describe the reaction to the outside world
at first he would want to see the shadows of the cave again but slowly he would be amazed by the world
explain the reaction to the outside world
this is the real world but it takes time to accept it
describe the sun
the source of all life
explain the sun
the form of all good
the highest form
describe the return to the cave
he would go back to the cave and tell the others what he had seen
explain the return to the cave
a philosophers duty to educate others
describe the difficulty adjusting to darkness
his journey would have weakened his ability to predict the movement of the shadows
explain the difficulty of adjusting to darkness
once you have been enlightened to real knowledge its hard to see the truth in empirical opinions
describe the persecution by other prisoners
if he tried to convince the other prisoners to follow him they would think he’s insane and put him to death
explain the persecution by the other prisoners
like Socrates the philosopher will be ridiculed and mistreated
criticisms of the prisoners
if everyone was a philosopher science would have never progressed
unfair
implies that if you’re not a philosopher then you are inferior
criticisms of the chains
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
criticisms of the cave
Plato is interested in beauty but cant see the beauty in the empirical world
its not a good metaphor for the real world
criticisms of the fire
makes us sound primitive
it devalues how essential fire is
