There are human beings in a dark cave, bound by chains and facing the wall; they see only shadows of themselves and the shadows that are shown to them by other human beings behind them. They have been there since birth, so what they see on the wall in front of them is what they perceive as reality. However, one is finally set free from his chains and thus is able to see the real reality; he is able to see the world as it exists not as it is shown to them. He sees the shadows, then reflections, then objects themselves, then the stars and the moon, and finally sunlight, which symbolises the actual nature of things or the truth. After having set eyes on the sun, this man cannot go back to the cave, to the dark, and see the world as he used to before he started contemplating the truth.
Behind the prisoners is a low wall, a walkway and a large fire that lights up the cave. Every once in a while, people walk across the walkway carrying objects and because the walkway is in front of the fire, it causes shadows to be cast against the wall in front of the prisoners – just like shadow puppets. They associate the sounds made by the people casting the shadows against the wall of the cave with the shadow itself because they know nothing better. This is the only reality they have ever known. The prisoners represent ignorant, less educated people who have not yet opened their minds to the philosophical truth – the intelligible realm.
Plato’s Cave Plato believed in the idea of a cave where prisoners were kept and shown images on a wall by fire and people holding up objects. The images that were projected was the only thing the prisoners knew existed. The people holding up the objects control what the prisoners see and what they know. This is the same in the movie Dear Frankie. Frankie is the prisoner being showed the images and his mother is the person holding the objects.
For his entire life Socrates had done nothing other than examining his own life hence so he can improve himself as a human being and become wiser than he already was. Being not able to teach the entire city the knowledge which he possessed was what put Socrates to death. He helped others find meaning in their lives and pursue happiness. Never once was it his initial intension to “corrupt” anyone. It was Socrates being a good man and trying to reach out to others in making them succeed in life which is what cost Socrates own life in the long run.
Plato uses the description of “Darkness” to possibly imply there are false realities that we each have and uses “sunlight” to stand for being enlightened by the “new world”, which is what the released prisoner was to experience. The “cave” is referred to as the “little world” that they are living in. I feel as if it is just a small part of the world that they know V/S the Larger world they should explore They are not free because they don’t know what experiences is outside the cave. They have been sheltered and not allowed to see for themselves what life can really be. The “shackles” are like a symbol of how they all have this same way of living and thinking.
His position in life as being a good man and act as one, to live a proper and truthful life. The questioning attitude he thought Athens explaining that fundamentally there are logical reasons behind phenomena and events. Through his conversation with the jury, Socrates insists that he is no expert of any field whats so ever and he is not a wise man at all. Socrates follower Chaerphon visited the Oracle who spoke of Socrates being the wisest man in Greece. To prove the Oracle wrong Socrates went searching for a wiser man than he in Athens.
They cannot turn their heads around; they can only look forward at the wall of the cave. A light comes to them from a fire burning some distance behind them. Between the fire and the chained men is a raised platform on which a low wall has been built. Behind the wall are people, like puppeteers, who carry all sorts of articles like statues of men and other living things which they hold above the wall. Some of the bearers speak and others are silent, as you might expect.” “I see,” said Glaucon [Socrates’ student].
A prison for your mind.... Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is” (Matrix 4). 1b) When Neo is in the routine life and he doesn’t experience the matrix, he is like the prisoners in the first stage and he thinks everything he sees is the real. When he is curious about the reality of the world and knows that the matrix isn’t the real world, he is in the second stage of the cave. Neo in his first conversation with Trinity shows that he has a question which is not popular for all the people who live in the prison of the world.
Plato refers to untutored humans as the chained prisoners who can’t be able to turn their heads in the cave. The cave represents the world humans live in for the things they see do resemble their true forms just like the prisoners could only see the shadows cast on the wall, hear the echoes produced by the real objects behind them. They could not be able to turn their heads to see the puppeteers walking behind them and the fire that is producing the light that enables the puppeteers reflect their real objects on the wall. It is easy for the prisoners to mistake reality for the images in appearance. If an animal shadow is cast on the wall, the prisoners will talk about having seen an animal thinking they have seen the real animal.
This is the only life they have ever known. They watch shadows projected onto the wall by individuals carrying objects or leading animals in front of a fire causing these shadows to be cast. The prisoners try to predict the movements, and associate the sounds made by the individuals with the shadows, as this is all they know. They