allegory of the cave katie mccue

Platos “Allegory of the Cave” was a bit difficult to get through due to the sometimes confusing references and language he incorporated throughout his writing. The excerpt is a piece by the philosopher Plato and revolves around his teacher, Socrates, and a man named Glaucon. This reading is an interesting reference to a human beings desire to learn and keep building on that knowledge. Along with this, Plato divulges how he, as a philosopher, see’s things differently then the rest of society. As a teacher, Plato states how individuals will not learn unless complelled to do so, meaning you can not force teaching upon someone. The allusion Plato paints to his viewer involving people chained to a cave, only seeing their “reality” through shadows on a wall is simple, but adds a sense of complexity in that the shadows are an illusion that people struggle to see past in order to attain a sense of the real world.