“Allegory of the Cave”

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.

所有跟帖： 

• 這是一種愚民辦法... -疏影笑寒- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 08:41:49

• 我想柏拉圖是說人都是在山洞裏 -心存善念- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 08:44:50

• 柏拉圖的愛情最美!一個大作家 -疏影笑寒- ♀ (189 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 08:48:39

• How to avoid being blinded? -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 09:56:06

• 我這麽英文表達對嗎？ -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 10:01:42

• I'd say"try not to be blinded" -心存善念- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 14:49:45

• avoid gives a sense of passiveness -心存善念- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 14:51:30

• Point taken！ -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 15:07:23

• 美語世界秒變哲學大觀，我FOCUS很久在1st&2nd paragraphs, but I could've understoo -耳機- ♀ (42 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 10:56:39

• 哈哈哈，善念的水平太高，我們都在跟他這個百科全書邊學英語邊學各種知識：） -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 11:00:45

• 記得你也是哲學家，可以和他切磋切磋：） -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 11:03:33

• 哪還哲學家，我連我自己的生活都看不明白：P -耳機- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 11:07:48

• knowledge is what we know/belief is our best guess of the truth -心存善念- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 14:48:38

• Interesting. so knowledge is power. otherwise will be get fooled -天邊一片白雲- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 14:12:53

• actually his point is knowledge is always partial or flawed -心存善念- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/29/2021 postreply 14:47:17

• 恭喜善念。首頁進來，謝謝網管，“Allegory of the Cave” 推薦成功 -梅雨潭- ♂ (0 bytes) () 12/30/2021 postreply 12:30:58

• 多謝班長！ -心存善念- ♀ (0 bytes) () 12/30/2021 postreply 13:05:14