![]() ![]() That is crude and imperfect: we could always build it to 1/32″ accuracy. Say we decide to build our table to 1/16″ accuracy. However, we can use the following thought experiment to show that any table we try to build in this world, no matter how perfect we try to make it, is just a shadow of the ideal table. He wants us to understand this so that we realize that philosophy is superior to science.įor example, we may think the table in front of us is a real table, worthy of study, and not merely an imperfect imitation of an ideal table. What we think is real-the natural world-is a pale and imperfect reflection of an ideal reality. Plato says we on earth live in a cave, watching shadows on a wall. ![]() To expand on it a bit, the theme of the cave allegory gets to the heart of the divide between science and philosophy in Western culture. ![]() The answer above offers a fine description and explanation of Plato’s allegory of the cave. Thus, this entire allegory sketches the Platonic vision of reality, in which human beings are only able to indirectly grasp the higher, transcendent reality which emanates through the universe. This represents the reality of transcendent ideals which Plato speaks about. Even as the prisoners remain trapped in the cave, there is still the world outside the cave. Just as the prisoners are ultimately trapped in their cave, watching shadows on the wall, so too are human beings trapped by their material existence (with all of our knowledge and assumptions of the world being much like those shadows). The Allegory of the Cave serves to illustrate this relationship in more concrete terms, with the prisoners serving as a representation of human existence. For Plato, these various concepts are not human inventions, but are actually built into reality itself, as part of a more transcendent reality (one that is actually more real, in a Platonic sense, than the material world as it is experienced by human beings). When reading Plato’s various dialogues, one will often observe a focus upon themes such as justice, virtue, beauty, and the good. The Allegory of the Cave represents an expression of Plato’s philosophy of truth and reality (which can be termed as Platonic Idealism). Ultimately, Plato’s point is that in order to truly gain an understanding of knowledge, humans must submit to the idea of specific and fair philosophical reasoning, which transcends the pitfalls of human perception. For example, a rainstorm can be viewed as a blessing by a farmer or a curse by a sailor. Additionally, two humans can perceive the same object and derive a different meaning from it. Humans are biased individuals who will explicitly or implicitly apply individual biases to what they perceive. This idea also begins to uncover other issues with human perception. When he returns to tell the other prisoners, they do not believe him, because they are still relying on their perception. When one prisoner escapes and understands that life comes from the sun, he realizes his former view of reality based on human perception was wrong. When a prisoner randomly guesses the next shadow to appear, that prisoner will be worshipped as having mastered nature. In Plato’s example, prisoners live their entire lives in a cave, only able to see shadows. The main theme of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in the Republic is that human perception cannot derive true knowledge, and instead, real knowledge can only come via philosophical reasoning. What is the main theme of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” in the Republic?
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