Plato's Allegory of the Cave

As Riebold Benton and DiYanni (2005, p. 121) assert, "Classical Greek civilization thoroughly explored the human condition, recognizing the realities and constraints of human life, yet constantly striving to realize ideals." Perhaps nothing illustrates this argument better than the striving to realize the highest truth provided by the philosopher Plato in the "Allegory of the Cave." In this allegory, Plato provides an illustration of how human beings either fail to achieve or achieve the highest knowledge of ideas.

Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" contains the key to his study of man's knowledge of Ideas or of the "prime intuition," (McLean and Aspell, 1971, p. 132). In this allegory, Plato described human beings living in an underground cave which contains a mouth reaching up toward the light. The people in the cave are chained at the neck and legs so that they cannot move, but can see the light. They can also see behind them at a distance a great and ever-burning fire, and near a low wall in front they are able to see a screen against which puppets are to be viewed in action. The

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Category: Philosophy - P