Words: 822
After he realizes that hat he previously thought to be reality was in fact a lie, he tries to forget about his past life. Plato suggests that if the prisoner were led to the entrance to the cave, then this man would face the peril climb of the steep and unpredictable rocks around the cave. This journey out of the cave by the prisoner is the journey of the new philosopher to enlightenment and represents that the journey can be hard but, nonetheless, can be done. The philosopher will also be in the prisons shies when he struggles to comprehend the new world he has discovered.
The process is meant to be en as incredibly hard and trying for the philosopher as like the prison he has to break chains, his of society and climb the rocks, his understanding, to reach this enlightened state. It is clear that Plato tried to portray a world in which the average human person is strangled by the chains of our falsified reality. This is done because Plato is trying to show how we are restrained by society and others influences which prevent us from seeing the truth. The chains, however, can be taken off.
This is done to show how we have the capability to break from the chains of our false reality. Plato represents as what we see reality to be merely shadows, a glimpse of our reality. However, the prisons are shown to like these shadows and never question them, they make games out of them and continue to stay in their unquestioned ignorant life. When outside the prison would struggle further and might not, at first, understand what he is seeing. At first he would simply focus on the shadows like he did his whole previous life.
However after time he would soon see them as the true reality as he could see the true nature of things. This section of the analogy is very important as the outside world represents the World of Forms. It is the sun that provides the true shape and color in the analogy and so the sun represents the form of the good. Plato is stating that this form gives all Of the other forms their shapes. This is the goal Of every philosopher; to gain intimate knowledge of the form of the good and realize that the physical world/ the cave is not true reality.
It should also be noted that the fire in the cave is a superficial sun. The fire that burns only gets its energy from wood which comes via the sun. Plato believes that true knowledge can only be found in the world of forms. This means that any knowledge that comes through the five senses cannot be rue as the physical world is in a state of constant change and flux. Only through developing the skill of reason can the philosopher hope to understand the nature of reality.
Plato believes that the soul has been caught in the body and that the only escape is to become like the philosopher and discover true reality. He believes that the soul exists in the world of forms and has always done so. This is why he places such an emphasis on reason. The mind is the key. Through the mind we can reason back to our souls to remember the nature of things. Finally, Plato makes a comparison in the story through using the return of the escaped prisoner. Upon his return, we see the other prisoners feel threatened when their ideas about the world are questioned.
The escaped prisoner knew that he would be mocked when he returned, but he has to anyway as it is every philosophers to spread and share truths to others. The prisoner’s response represents the ignorance of most people. The prisoners response are like most in how the refuse to try to comprehend a true reality but prefer to live in there state blissful ignorance. Plato even refers to the death of Socrates and says that these prisoners or ignorant people are even ailing to kill or severely harm in order to protect the ignorant and simple life.
In conclusion, it seems to me that Plato was desperate to show how ignorant most Of us are. He was also keen to show how we all have the capability to break from the false world. He shows it might be hard but that we can all get to the ultimate and true reality. Plato also wants us to understand how it is not us to be naturally ignorant but the society we live in puts us in chains and prevents us from being relieved of these chains, he also shows how even once we know the truth, spreading the truth will be hard.