Summary Response to Platos Allegory of the Cave - 630 Words

SUMMARY RESPONSE TO PLATOS ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE (625 WORDS) The main idea presented by Plato in his infamous Allegory of the Cave is that the average persons perceptions are severely limited by personal perspective. Plato uses the metaphorical situation of prisoners chained together in a way that limited their visual perception to the shadows projected from behind them onto a wall in front of them. He uses that metaphor to illustrate that perspective determines perceptions and also that once an individual achieves a wider or more accurate perspective, it becomes difficult for him to communicate with those who are still limited to the narrower perspective that he may have once shared with them. Plato meant his allegory to apply to the limitations of perspective attributable to social experiences as well as to the absence of formal education and training, particularly in logical reasoning. Plato believed that logical reasoning is a skill that must be learned through formal training and that without adequate training, it is substantially imposs ible to understand the logical perspective. Platos main goal in the Allegory of the Cave is to communicate the relevance and importance of the concept of intellectual perspective. His real agenda is to illustrate that most people are likely perceiving the world around them in a much more limited manner than they realize and that most of us are, to some degree, living our lives in the same circumstances as the prisoners heShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Allegory of the Cave in Platos Republic901 Words   |  4 PagesThe Allegory of the Cave in Platos Republic This paper discussed The Allegory of The Cave in Platos Republic, and tries to unfold the messages Plato wishes to convey with regard to his conception of reality, knowledge and education. THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE Platos Allegory of the Cave is a story that conveys his theory of how we come to know, or how we attain true knowledge. It is also an introduction into his metaphysical and ethical system. In short, it is a symbolic explanationRead More The Republic by Plato Essay5378 Words   |  22 PagesSocrates special charm and intellectual gifts through the insistence of Polemarchus and the other men for the pleasure of his company. The tone is casual and language and modes of expression rather simple, as is commonly the case in Platos dialogues. However, Platos unaffected style serves at least two purposes. For one it belies the complexity and elevation of the ideas, thus it is in accord with Socrates characteristic irony itself, which draws the quot;foolquot; in by feigned ignorance, onlyRead MoreKubla Khan Essay4320 Words   |  18 Pagesbefore us, is utterly destitute of value and he defied any man to point out a passage of poetical merit in it.While derisive asperity of this sort is th e common fare of most of the early reviews, there are, nevertheless, contemporary readers whose response is both sympathetic and positive -- even though they value the poem for its rich and bewitching suggestiveness rather than for any discernible meaning that it might possess. Charles Lamb, for example, speaks fondly of hearing Coleridge recite