Metaphor help for Allegory of the Cave?
I don't remember there being a "philosopher king" in the cave. If you're referring to the enlightened person who escapes the chains, they don't exactly represent life itself, maybe more like "lost life" or "lost truth" probably because just because this guy makes it back to his fellow skeletons doesn't guarantee them life. I would draw a eccentric crazy looking guy tripping over stuff going back into the cave with the power of life and truth because he hasn't adjusted to the ignorance and death back in the cave, and he's likely to be rejected and lost forever. (you can have the Egyptian akhl of life on him if you want)
What is the meaning of the allegory of the cave?
The “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the basic tenets that all we perceive are imperfect “reflections” of the ultimate Forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. In his story, Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. When summarizing the “Allegory of the Cave” it’s important to remember the two elements to the story; the fictional metaphor of the prisoners, and the philosophical tenets in which said story is supposed to represent, thus presenting us with the allegory itself. The multi-faceted meanings that can be perceived from the “Cave” can be seen in the beginning with the presence of our prisoners whom are chained within the darkness of the aforementioned cave. The prisoners are bound to the floor and unable to turn their heads to see what goes on behind them. To the back of the prisoners, under the protection of the parapet, lie the puppeteers whom are casting the shadows on the wall in which the prisoners are perceiving reality. The passage is actually told not from the perspective of the prisoners, but rather a conversation occurring between Socrates and Glaucon (Plato’s brother). While the allegory itself isn’t the story, but rather the conversational dialogues between Glaucon and Socrates (Plato often spoke his ideas through Socrates in his works), the two are not mutually exclusive and thus will not be treated so.
Was Plato’s allegory of the cave meant to provide a metaphor for the limited perception of the mind?
Intensely short answer: No. Longer answer: in The Republic Plato makes use of 4 levels of mentation: sensation (e.g., acrid [smell]; picture-thinking (e.g., imaging what a human being is); conceptualization (e.g., having a definition of the human type of being); noetic insight . Now, obviously, what one takes to be the object of one's experience depends on what level of mentation one is operating with at the time. These 4 levels of mentation c0-respond to 4 levels of Reality (e.g., obviously, I hope, acric smell is a property of a thing (except when one's olfactory powers generate, malfunctionally, that smell in the absence of any actual thing which is acrid). And many people tend to hold that Reality contains things (unfortunately some people hold that all things = all Reality (that is, that Reality = the heap of all things). Some think that there are REALITY LAWS which are more real than things. And a few (such as Plato, it seems) hold that there is a generative power that begets the domain of lawful reality and thus also things and finally, (sort of), the semi-real smells and tastes. The worst common mistake is that what one images is what really is. (OK, There is a worse one that is found mostly in moral discussions: namely, morality is entirely a matter of what one FEELS). Even to this day, many have no significant appreciation of laws of reality, much less the creative power humans have to generate novelties--including most interestingly, to create hypotheses in science and invent ways to test them. A final word from Plato's dialogue "Timaeus": Plato has Timaeus give a detailed description of the apparent relation of the celestial bodies in relation to Earth. Plato gives no explicit answer to whether the apparent geosystem (as described by Timaeus) is one HE subscribes to or if it is a Solar System but he does seems to insist that there is a "Workman" ("Demiurgos") or Composer or Creator who makes these bodies from rationality and in accord with rationality.
Why does plato use an extended metaphor (or allegory) and symbolism in "The Allegory of the Cave"?
Plato's 'truth' was about "universals". That is what truth, in the end, always comes down to in any argument, because every word we use has a universal in it. So THAT is the truth. He used a lengthy allegory because people in his day understood allegories. 900 years after his death, the 3rd century Christians were so familiar with his work, that St. Augustine incorporated Platonic ideas into the religion, where they remained until St. Aquinas pushed him out in favor of Aristotle's ideas. " This is important to understand: "1 Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc., without (so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms. "2 The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this." http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/32... So you first have to understand Plato's Forms. The Forms were Plato's method of solving the Problem of Universals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_re... http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/p… You might also try reading Sparknotes on The Cave. http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/rep… But your question asks what the allegory can tell us about "truth". Nothing at all if you find that Plato's epistemology is incorrect. If universals are not his Forms, then they must be something else. If they are something else, the Forms do not represent truth. The only truth that is contained in it is the concept of universals themselves, such as the "manness" in man, or the "felineness" in cats. But that is metaphysical. WHERE universals come from, and HOW we come to know them (since this is all about "knowledge") are the two most important questions.
What are the key points to Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave'?
The biggest point in the Allegory of the Cave is one that people most often miss…The real reason Plato made up this allegory was to illustrate why it is so often the case that the wise do not rule… that in fact, they are often dismissed by the masses as crazy or even dangerous — as Socrates was.Because it’s so easy to argue against Plato by saying, “If the wise man is really so smart, why wouldn’t everyone see that, and listen to what he says…?”Or put it another way, Why would Athens condemn Socrates to death?????Plato’s answer: because true wisdom, to the foolish, seems all too often like madness. This is the real point of the Allegory of the Cave. Most men are like people trapped in a cave, forever facing the wall, believing the shadows on the wall of the cave to be real. When one of their number breaks free, emerges into the light, and then returns to announce that there is a whole other world outside the cave, he is usually dismissed as a madman.Because most men, to Plato, are trapped in ignorance, seeing only shadows on the wall and believing what they see to be reality… not knowing that there is a much greater Reality outside of their limited experience and knowledge.That is Plato’s view, anyway.Implicit in this view, of course, is a philosophical attitude that has been very influential down through the ages: the idea that our senses do not tell us the most accurate view of reality. Sensory data is analogous to the shadows on the wall of cave… it reflects reality but only indirectly and poorly. There is a greater Reality, says Plato, but it is reachable only through Reason, not by trusting our senses.
What is the Idea of Ethics in The Allegory of the Cave?
In itself, the allegory of the cave doesn't necessarily have anything to do with ethics, per se. True, it can be metaphorically extended to the matter--- but the allegory itself deals with the idea of what we call 'reality' and our impressions of truth (or wisdom/knowledge/any number of nearly interchangeable ways of saying 'things we think we know'). Therefore, any metaphorical extension by which you take the allegory of cave and apply it to ethics would probably have to relate the 'actual good' of an act to the 'perceived good' --- which can be done, but is definitely stretching the meaning of things quite a bit. You could argue, for instance, that the people in the cave, watching shadows, were seeing some sort of altered down version of an ethical code, and the person who steps outside the cave sees what the actual ethical code those people THINK they're witnessing really is; but again, this has less to do with 'ethics' and their values than it does with the problems inherent in perceiving reality that the allegory is meant to highlight (and inspire one to overcome). Hope that helps a bit.
What is the difference betwen an allegory and a metaphor?
Allegory: A story, poem or picture which conveys a hidden message, often a social, political or moral one.Metaphor: A figure of speech, very different from an allegory. When the meaning of something is unclear or mundane, a figure of speech involving unrelated objects is used to convey the meaning in a more interesting and accurate manner. It livens the text and explains the context effectively.For detailed examples for each and to read about other related words visit Allegory : Hiding in plain sight
WTF- Has Anyone Read "Allegory of The Cave" by Plato?
Um....I don't believe in doing other ppls homework, but since this was a difficult literary piece to understand I guess I will help. What u have to understand first and foremost is what is an allegory? If I am correct, an allegory is a metaphor. Plato uses these metaphors to better describe his argument, because if he had done it as a story people would easily lose the meaning behind it. The dialogue is VERY essential to the story cause it keeps u thinking as if u are the other person having the conversation... Its a little complex to explain, but I understand why it was done that way. IT makes it much easier for the reader to understand the metaphor of human ignorance etc. You have to also break down the symbolism behind the shadows, the cave itself, the prisoners, and the sun. All of these things are symbolic and sums up the story itself.
How does the allegory of the cave illustrate the importance and effects of a good education in philosophy?
It doesn’t really. The story — like the rest of the Republic — is a metaphor for the ‘inner city’ of ones soul. (Socrates says this in his famous ‘letters write large’ comment in Book 2, 368c-e, and he supplies reminders throughout).What’s meant is a raising of one’s mind from folly and material pleasures to the sun of Conscience, true moral judgement, and an inner connection to the Good. This occurs by, among other means, dialectic, contemplation (see Diotima’s speech in the Symposium), and moral excellence (see the Chariot Allegory in Phaedrus).For Plato, the most essential ingredient for understanding philosophy is a genuine love of Wisdom — genuine in that it derives more from an acute sense of one’s own failings and earnest desire for the ‘salvation’ of ones soul than a mere wish to gain knowledge for its own sake. It follows that the education in philosophy should be oriented to this practical concern of moral and spiritual improvement.Further, the most important education in philosophy comes by looking within and following the maxim, Know Thyself. Study of written philosophy, again, should be oriented towards supporting this inner education.