In "The Myth of the Cave" Plato describes a scene with people living in a cave. These people are chained up by their feet and neck so that they are unable move or turn their heads: all they know and see in their life is displayed as shadows on the cave wall in front of them. ... In his essay, Plato uses Socrates as his persona, or his character, to get the point across to his readers. ... He is, somewhat, making fun of those who are still living in the dark or "in the cave" so to speak; but he's doing it in more of a sympathetic kind of way. ... Plato generalized the entire society as ...

• Word Count: 889
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Plato was a philosopher who believed in higher education and was curios about the way humans learned. Socrates was Plato's mentor who had a major influence on Plato's life. Therefore, it led Plato to writing The Republic. ... Characters of the cave, who are the prisoners, have lived their life in ignorance when they knew nothing of the outside world. ... The cave myth is more meaningful and symbol when read carefully and when influence takes place. ...

• Word Count: 481
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

This is the basic premise for Plato's Allegory of the Cave, in which prisoners sit in a cave, chained down, watching images cast on the wall in front of them. ... Accordingly, to break free, we must open our eyes and see the truth about the world around us according to Plato. The truth for Oedipus being that he is a prisoner of his own beliefs just as the men were prisoners of the cave. ... In "Allegory of the Cave" Plato alludes to a direct representation of the human condition of typical behaviors in society. ... In the context of "Allegory of the Cave," Oedipus can be compared to the...

• Word Count: 526
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Plato, like Descartes, was not an empiricist. Plato, a rationalist, strongly advised that what we see is only a shadow of the true forms so are not to be trusted. The analogy of the cave was thought up to demonstrate that we are trapped in the metaphorical prison with our poor quality eyes deceiving us every second. The world in Plato's eyes was far from how non-philosophers experienced it. ... We are mere sheep, following each other further into the trap, being deceived by whoever is in front of us, and as Plato warned, the only way to get out is to study philosophy. ...

• Word Count: 957
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School