Essay on Platos Allegory of the Cave - 1315 Words

In society today most people live by what is call â€Å"social norms†, most people follow these norms and some choose not to follow them. Social norms are certain things in life that everyone does to be accepted by their co-workers, family, friends and even strangers. Some may feel that they have to live by these norms to get through life without being rejected and to be known as a â€Å"normal† person, hence the word â€Å"norm†. If a person were to stray from this path and just do what they felt like doing and do what made them happy as an individual, would they be criticized? In Plato’s Allegory of a Cave he describes an example of people conforming to the norm they were born into and then shows the results of a person emerging from this community†¦show more content†¦The man ran up the hill towards the light and the end of the cave where he was temporarily blinded because he was used to the darkness inside of the cave. Of course this is all v ery confusing to him and maybe even angers him because he does not understand what he is seeing. Eventually this man will gain knowledge of the world and everything in it, from the shadows of the objects he saw on the wall of the cave all the way up to how the sun helps the earth. He will see that was he was made to see and understand was not reality but just was he was made to believe. This freed man now pities the other prisoners that are still inside the cave because he realizes how wrong they were about everything they know. Plato describes how if the freed prisoner were to go back to the cave and tell the others what he has seen that they would criticize him, laugh at him and tell him he would have been better off if he had never escaped. They even go as far to say that if another person were to be released that they should be caught and killed so as to not follow the same fate as the released prisoner. (Plato, Parker, P. M., 2005) In my eyes Plato is describing how the society today is full of â€Å"unenlightenment† or ignorance and how we as a culture have been conformed to accepted ways and if we were to step away from these accustomed ways we would be casted out and ridiculed by our peers. According to SwapnilShow MoreRelatedPlatos Allegory of the Cave1521 Words   |  7 PagesPlato’s Allegory of the Cave Essay One of Plato’s more famous writings, The Allegory of the Cave, Plato outlines the story of a man who breaks free of his constraints and comes to learn of new ideas and levels of thought that exist outside of the human level of thinking. However, after having learned so many new concepts, he returns to his fellow beings and attempts to reveal his findings but is rejected and threatened with death. This dialogue is an apparent reference to his teacher’s theoriesRead MorePlatos Allegory of The Cave752 Words   |  3 Pagesinterpreting Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave’’ in which is a representation that described a narrative of the society of people in before Christ years. I realized how there was a major comparison of people in today’s society that reflected the same prisoner traits as the prisoners that were described in the dialogue. According to the Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave.† It described conditions of people chain ed at birth unable to function as independent individuals that were locked in a protracted dark cave. TheyRead MoreAnalysis Of Platos Allegory Of The Cave864 Words   |  4 PagesOn the surface of Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† it is just a simple piece, but the main purpose of the piece is to explain people living in a world of face value and having individuals break free from the main idea to create a new sense of what the world is truly about. 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But what they see as an actual object, they are actually just seeing a shadow of the actual object. â€Å"If they discuss thingsRead MorePlatos Allegory of the Cave and Advertisements1889 Words   |  8 PagesJulian Figueroa (#30973127) 1 An Allegory of Advertisements How does Plato’s allegory influence the way we consume art today? Every minute of every day, millions of people are exposed to advertisements. They plague televisions, streets, radio waves, and all means of communication. These advertisements employ many methods of persuasion and their influence is irresistible. Just like prisoners in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, we are told every day to invest our time and interest into the subjectRead MorePlatos Allegory of the Cave3086 Words   |  13 PagesPrompt: Define Plato s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave†. What is the central message? Is he describing education alone? Where does politics come in? Plato is known to many as one of the most influential and greatest philosophers to have lived. Plato represents his idea of reality and the truth about what we perceive through one of his famous writings, â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave†. The philosophical writing is in the form of an allegory, which is â€Å"a story in which the characters and situations actually representRead MorePlatos Allegory Of The Cave Essay1537 Words   |  7 Pagesthe limits of reason and morality. Having freedom equals having the power to think, to speak, and to act without externally imposed restrains. As a matter of fact, finding freedom in order to live free is the common idea in Plato with The Allegory of the Cave; Henry David Thoreau with Where I lived and What I lived for; and Jean Paul Sartre with Existentialism. Generally, Plato, Thoreau, and Sartre suggested that human life should be free. They differ in what that freedom is. Plato thinks