Response paper about Allegory of the Cave Response PDF

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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave was a very interesting text because it was very hard to understand the meaning behind it at first. I have concluded that the main meaning of the text is that people are often afraid of the truth because they do not like change....

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English 1101 24 August 2020

Allegory of the Cave Response: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave was a very interesting text because it was very hard to understand the meaning behind it at first. I have concluded that the main meaning of the text is that people are often afraid of the truth because they do not like change. Plato has conveyed this idea in his allegory by giving an example. First, Plato paints the picture of these men that have been in a dark cave, facing the wall and the only things they have ever seen were shadows on the wall from behind them. Plato is referring to how people are left in the dark metaphorically and they only base their knowledge on what they have seen without going “outside” to gain more knowledge about the world around them. Then one day, one of the men is released from the cave. He goes outside and the light hurts his eyes at first, but he eventually adjusts. As he looked around him, he saw these shadows that he used to see in the cave and he learned that shadows are not real. This symbolizes when someone decides to not be in the dark anymore. He learns brand new information and now he wants to tell people about his findings. The man goes back into the cave and he can not see the shadows on the wall anymore. He tells the other prisoners that the shadows are not real and he is shamed by everyone. The prisoners tell him that he is stupid and blind. This refers to when someone learns new information and they go out and tell everyone about what they know, people do not want to believe it because they do not want to change what they know. The fact that the man who came back to the caves could not see the shadows anymore relates to the real world because the shadows represent what people know. When the man goes back to his friends who are in the dark, he can not see what he used to know because he now

knows better. The other prisoners are ignorant of the new information because all they know is what they see in the dark, so they might be scared to believe anything else. This relates to real-life today in many ways. Politically, this could refer to each political party not being willing to learn new information because it might be a threat to what they already know. Often, people are raised a certain way, so all they know is what they have been taught their whole life. When new information either changes or disproves what they have known their whole life, they often reject it. Others consider that information and they alter their opinion to fit what they have known and what they know now. Just like how the man who went back to the cave to share his findings applied the information he knew in the cave and what he knows now. This allegory has taught me that I should be more open-minded to other opinions and not be so quick to disprove anything. Instead of being in the dark surrounded by my own ignorance, it would be a good idea to listen to other peoples ideas and look into the topic myself. Once I know information from many different opinions, then I should be able to make an informed and wise decision on what I do and do not believe....