Allegory of the Cave - Nick Biewer

The Allegory of the Cave
Nick Biewer

The cave in which Plato describes in this reading represents the shelter that unknowledgeable people are trapped in. He depicts a world were a person can only see the shadows in front of him and is unable to experience the world outside of his cave. However, this cave is what he knows to be true, so a worldly person coming back into the shackles of the cave would not be able to fully grasp the visions inside the cave anymore. This explains how everyone can view life in a different manner based solely on the their knowledge and experience of what they’ve seen to be true.
The world Plato describes outside the cave depicts the knowledge gained through life. He talks of the sun as if it were enlightenment. The man going back into the cave would be a knowledgeable person going back to the common people and trying to explain what they know to be real. However, they can’t fully explain without being able to readjust to the cave. The knowledgeable person is now the one who needs to decide what is best for the common man. This can relate to the censorship in our countries. Who knows what is good and not good to present to people.