4.+Individual+Analysis+2

** Plato's Allegory of the Cave ** "And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision,--what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them,--will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?"

According to Plato, the world beyond the cave signifies the world of forms and shapes while the shadows on the wall represent objects in the world. This comparison of the            cave and shadows to the reality of the physical world is an example of an analogy. Plato also distinguishes between the philosopher and the prisoners. The escape of the prisoner symbolizes philosophical enlightenment and the understanding that those forms or shapes outside the cave are the reality. However philosophers are like the prisoners, who escape the cave and witness the real world. This analogy helps further the author's purpose, because he is relating similar views of a philosopher and the prisoners to demonstrate what reality is, and hence he attains a little credibility to his theme.

APathiranage //Allegory of the Cave// by Plato 1) "Plato: The Allegory of the Cave." __Washington State University - Pullman, Washington__. 04 Feb. 2009     .

2) __SF Diplomat__. 06 Feb. 2009 http://www.sfdiplomat.net/sf_diplomat/200710151140.jpg.