Allegory of the Cave Interpretation.

Allegory of the Cave

An allegory is essentially a story that one may interpret to reveal a hidden meaning in the story.

Other examples of allegories in modern literature would be John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress or

William Golding's The Lord of the Flies. In modern cinema, movies such as James Cameran's Avatar

are also considered allegories. I believe Plato used the allegory of the dark cave to illustrate his point

because darkness can symbolize mystery and the lack of knowledge. Its the same with Plato using the

bright sun outside the cave to illustrate knowledge, light is a symbol of knowledge. That is why when

one knows something, he is considered to be “enlightened.”

The stages of ascent out of the cave starts with the person staring at the shadows. The shadows

that the people are seeing are objects in the imagination of the people, and they are not actual real

objects. When one of the people is released, he is able to begin to see more than the shadows that he

had previously only seen. These objects that he is then looking at are his first taste of real objects, ones

that physically exist. The next stage is when the person walks out of the cave and begins to see actual

figures of people and other objects, since it is lighter outside, he can make out the shapes better and is

more enlightened about them. The final stage is when he looks at the sun. The sun is the ultimate

symbol of light and knowledge. When the person looks at the sun, he is finally seeing the source of the

light and is then fully “enlightened.”

When Plato says that mind-independent forms which don't exist in the world of senses must

exist as objects of knowledge, he is saying that the shadows that the people see on the wall are

portrayed as objects that do not physically exist, only mentally exist as the knowledge of the shapes

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that were seen. I agree with his statement, for when people see a shadow or...