What is really real? How do we distinguish between the appearance of something and the truth about it? These questions and many more are not easily answered or are, perhaps, impossible to answer. But as rational beings we have the capacity to think deeply and logically about them and come up with an idea it try to explain them. This is what the study of philosophy is all about: the rational attempt to formulate, understand and answer fundamental questions. .
Concerning the debate between appearance and reality, we can look to a celebrated philosopher, who lived in the 4th century B.C.E, but is still read and studied today, this person being Plato. In book VII of The Republic, Plato puts into words the life of another great philosopher of the time, Socrates. Socrates was a man interested in what people thought and why they came to certain conclusions. He roamed about Athens, where he came to live, and talked to people about justice and knowledge. He ultimately lost his life to his passion of asking provocative questions, but not before he could make an impact that is still felt. .
Book VII of Plato's The Republic (which, for ease, will be referred to as The Cave) is an allegory about society and the restraints that are placed on members as well as education or the lack there of and the consequences. An allegory is the telling of a story using symbols to tell about something the author wants to reveal. And much is revealed in The Cave. The setting is, most appropriately, in a cave. At the bottom are men sitting in chairs. They are bound so they cannot move from their seats, or move their heads and are forced to wear blinders so that they can only see directly ahead of them. These men have been here since childhood and apparently have known of nothing else in their lives. Near the entrance to the cave there is a fire, which provides the only light by which the bound men are able to see.
