Allegory of the Cave

This article explores Plato's theory of the allegory of the cave, which suggests that people are blinded by their empirical experiences and need to go beyond what they perceive. It discusses the relevance of this theory in the modern world and the importance of philosophical reasoning.

Running head: ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
Respond to Question Number ‘A’.
The theory of the allegory of the cave was developed by Plato, in which Plato mentioned
that people are blinded by the realities they perceive from their empirical experience and that
they do not go beyond of what they merely see or hear. Plato believed that philosophical
comprehension and reasoning is always higher than mere empirical understanding (Friedlander,
2015). Plato introduced the theory in which he mentioned prisoners who have perceived the
realities the world living in a cave since birth. This as a result made them reluctant to go beyond
their closed outlook to perceive the real world. The word cave in this context, refers to the
human mind.
Respond to Question Number ‘B’.
An allegory is a metaphorical description of a story, poem or picture which intends to
symbolise the hidden meaning of some political or moral idea/concept (MacQueen, 2017). In the
allegory of the cave, Plato’s main objective was to make people aware of how individuals
consider that real knowledge is based on what they acquire from their senses. Whereas, it is only
the shadow of their perceived truth and that real knowledge is obtained from a philosophical
outlook.
Yes, this theory can be regarded to be relevant in the modern set-up of the world, because
human beings till date tend to perceive things to be true based on their empirical experiences and
not on their philosophical or spiritual reasoning.

2ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
Respond to Question Number ‘C’.
Individuals who are able to understand this theory, tend to absorb more philosophical
knowledge from the world around them, rather than accumulating mere empirical experience
(Ledbetter, 2017). My perspective towards the people around me changed significantly, and I am
able to view things with better clarity with some sense of philosophical reasoning.
Respond to question number ‘D’.
Every individual today, is living in their specific caves which blinds them from the truths
of the world. In a rat race towards achieving materialistic goals, individuals have forgone the
necessity of acquiring the ability of philosophical reasoning. For example; every individual
considers materialistic possession as the real success, where they do not realise that humanity,
empathy and compassion are the real successful possessions.

3ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
Reference
Friedlander, P. (2015). Plato: An Introduction. Princeton University Press.
Ledbetter, G. (2017). THE POWER OF PLATO’S CAVE. Plato and the Power of Images;
Destree, P., Edmonds, 45-73.
MacQueen, J. (2017). Allegory (Vol. 13). Taylor & Francis.