Plato is considered one of the greatest philosophers in history. His "Allegory of the Cave" gives us great insight into the human condition. Allegory is a type of symbolism in which there is a direct one-to-one relationship between a character, object, or place and an idea or concept. In layman terms, it is symbolism that is blatant and obvious. Plato's cave has several such symbols, ... as well as some that are not so obvious. The ... story starts out as a conversation between two men. One is teaching the other about the human condition through allegory and symbolism. The first symbol we en...

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... ;turning their souls towards the good." The Divided Line is highly relatable to the Allegory of the Cave. In the cave, looking at the shadows is the lowest spot on the divided line and the sun is the highest point on the divided line, "the Good." Getting released from the cave is the beginning of "Turning the soul" and also starting to climb the ladder that is the divided line. As the prisoner moves from the cave and ascends in to ... the true reality, he is ascending up the ladder of the divided line ... ...

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... , moral psychology, epistemology, and metaphysics. The Metaphor of the Divided Line also created by Plato represents the levels of knowledge one can obtain. From this metaphor comes the Forms, and how the understanding of this Forms and applying them will help society. In his theory Allegory of the cave he explains the reason why society needs to be educated, sees the good in people and says the "bad" actions one commits ... is? That was admitted. Then the just has turned out to be wise and good and the unjust evil and ignorant." In his theory of Allegory of the Cave he refers the sun as...

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... , which is the Form of the Good. Plato creates an analogy between the Form of the Good and the sun, as follows in this diagram from the text: The Allegory of the Cave shows us that we, like the men in the cave mistake the unreal for the real. However, we must be forced to the direction of reality because rationality is what makes up mankind. Aristotle criticized Plato's theory of the Forms. He believed that the separation between the Forms and the sensible things ... the form of a ladder, which can be represented by the Divided Line. The world of Becoming is sensible while the world of B...

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... can not exist without a social system, which can not function without politics, it proves Plato's claim that human beings are political animals. The importance of existing though freedom, knowledge, and enlightenment is accentuated by Plato on The Republic. He uses the cave allegory to highlight how human beings will not survive the darkness unless they act together and be led by a philosopher king who leads them to ... who sail in ships governed in that way" (plato, VI,484). The fact that this allegory applies to any person in any circumstance proves that it is indeed our unchangeable ...

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... instability if left in the hands of the poor. The polity was comprised of a large body middle class rule, without the problem Aristotle associated with true democracies. A close review of both Plato and Aristotle's proposed states and their governments bring new perspective on Aristotle's key objections to the allegory of the cave. The rejection is not simply the issue of the elite few ruling over the masses of "slaves," but greater concern over how the power the control is obtained ... . Plato's epistemology describes a cosmogony centered around the certainty of the universe and man's a...

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... stage, they are dealing with the Forms directly, seeing the true object in its due eternal essence (Price 61). When at this stage, the person has now gained the ability to be "moral", thus living the "good" life. This brings the ability to balance the soul's will, between rationality and appetite. This idea of morality, as well as the interconnectedness of everything, is described in the "Allegory of the Cave". There are three ways to ... go about knowing forms. The first is recollection, which is discovering forms through experiences ... ...

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... and the prisoner's journey in the "Allegory of the Cave." Both Euthyphro's journey and the "Allegory of the Cave" talk about Forms. In Euthyphro's journey, he and Socrates are engaged in conversation outside the court of the king archon. Socrates speaks of his indictment, corrupting other people, brought upon him by Meletus. " He is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the shadows of images of justice and is trying to answer the ideas of those ... who have never yet seen the Form of Justice." (Allegory ... ...

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... talking about when I mentioned true knowledge. We can have true knowledge about mathematics, because the rate never changes. Jacob: I've read your Allegory of the Cave. Can you explain it to me? Plato: I modeled the Allegory of the Cave after my teacher Socrates life, and his death. He like all of us was facing the wall of the cave and marveling at the shadows of our world. But he thought beyond our reality and freed himself from ... the chains. He went up to the real world and even though it was painful, uncovered the real world. He learned ... ...

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... called, "suches," they are modifications of things that have properties. In general, we can say that Plato's philosophy is depicted in Allegory of the Cave. The allegory of the liberation of the slave from darkness, deceit, and untruth and the slave's hard journey into the light and warmth of the truth has inspired many philosophers and social leaders. (Palmer, p.59) in the allegory of the cave: Sensible Realm vs. Realm of Forms The Cave Outside of Cave Source of error Source of true knowledge and all reality ... Ignorance Exists in dependently of our minds Senses deceive (changing) (be...

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... this means is that they could see the forest for the trees and knew what the reality of life was really like. To him the world we live in is only an illusion. This is shown best in "The Allegory of the Cave". In this writing which is a part of one of his most famous works "The Republic" Plato talks of some men who are tied down in a cave. They have been this way for ... all of their life and have never known anything more than the shadows ... that appear on the wall. They never realize that these are only reflections ... ...

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... his plan of the ideal city. Plato's model for the ideal city is a society in which people perform the task that is best suited to them. Plato organizes people into three categories. The philosopher kings would be the elite ruling class. He expresses the superiority of the philosopher kings through the Allegory of the Cave. According to Plato, philosophers were the only ones who had transcended from the dark cave of ignorance and had broken free of the shackles of greed ... and self-interest. Since these philosophers were the only ones who were able to see light of truth, it was in the b...

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... to Wasilla, they would "know" how to get there. If someone had heard directions but had never actually gone for themselves, they have the belief or opinion of how to get there. A good example is the Allegory of the Cave. The people chained to the wall of the cave believe they know what people look like based on their shadows. They do not know what people look like until they actually see ... them. One point that Plato and Socrates did disagree (according to Plato) was on the aspect of the human soul. In Plato's dialogue, Phaedo, which documents Socrates" final hours, Socrates ... ...

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... illustrates how justice in the soul relates to justice in the community. Everyone needs to work together for the community to work right. Plato's Theory of Knowledge is very interesting. He expresses this theory with three approaches: his allegory of The Cave, his metaphor of the Divided Line and his doctrine The Forms. Each theory is interconnected; one could not be without the other. The Forms are the highest levels of "reality". Plato concludes here ... that the "real world" is not what we see but what we understand or feel in an "intelligible world" because it is made up ... ...

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