Preview

Allegory of the Cave

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2489 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Allegory of the Cave
Plato's Allegory Of The Cave A Springboard For The Matrix

Author: Dew
Property of Dew's Matrix Fan Page (http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/theater/9175)

IMPORTANT: For those of who are writing Matrix papers for school and wish to use my site as a source remember that all the articles on this site are copyrighted. This means that you MUST list Dew's Matrix Fan Page (http://thereisnospoon.moviefever.com or http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/theater/9175) as a source and site all references or quotes according to your teacher's requirements. Keep in mind that while I have tried to ensure the accuracy of this site's contents, I do not and can not take responsibility for any errors or omissions. In another words, you should not rely on this site's information without first checking it's accuracy.

And while it is not an academic requirement, I strongly encourage you to email me and tell me if you have used, or plan to use, my articles as a source in a paper. I ask for your feedback because it is the only way that I know that my site is useful and helps me gauge what kinds of new articles are needed.

WARNING: Under no circumstances is this site's information/articles to be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, in whole or in part, without prior permission.

The Cave And The Matrix Towers

In Book VII of The Republic, Plato tells a story entitled "The Allegory Of The Cave." He begins the story by describing a dark underground cave where a group of people are sitting in one long row with their backs to the cave's entrance. Chained to their chairs from an early age, all the humans can see is the distant cave wall in from of them. Their view of reality is solely based upon this limited view of the cave which but is a poor copy of the real world.

In addition to the chained people, there are other people in the cave. Plato refers to them as the puppet-handlers and they are the ones holding those in the cave captive. (It is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Cave is a famous analogy/allegory written by Plato which he uses to explain some parts of his theory of Forms. Within the analogy many of the key factors are symbolic of a situation that people can more easily understand and interpret themselves. The actual cave represents the world we perceive, the empirical world and the world of sensory perception. It acts as a barrier to the truth because our perceptions may be flawed. The prisoners chained so all they can do is looking in front represent us. We are trapped in the physical world of illusion with our handcuffs being our flawed senses and experiences. The shadows caused by the…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to Plato, the chained people represent the uneducated and uninformed men in the society (Warmington 119). Behind them and directly in front of the fire, people walk on a raised platform, thus projecting the shadows and echoes on the blank wall. These are the leaders in the today society and those other people in positions of influence who want the masses to believe in their point of view. The shadows projected include religion and political rule in the society. The philosopher escapes from the cave and is able to see the reality of the universe (Adeloitte 32). One could equate Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme with this as he projected unrealistic profits to investors…

    • 1275 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Allegory of the cave is written as a dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Socrates. It tells the story of human beings living in a cave. They have been there since they were little. Unfortunately, this is not a normal kind of life we would think of. These people were all sitting on the ground, tied in chains. Their necks, their legs, were all fettered, and they were only able to see what was right in front of them. They could not move their heads. Far above them there was a fire. Also, between them and the fire a wall was built, above which the puppets were shown. The only thing those people were able to see was the shadow of those puppets and they mistakenly thought that this shadow was actually the reality.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Plato's Republic we have one of the best allegories told, the allegory of the Cave. The allegory of the cave goes basically like this:…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The movie The Matrix has many similar themes and differences to “The Allegory of the Cave”. The Matrix is about a man named Neo, he believes that he’s a normal man with a normal life but then he is contacted by a man named Morpheus. Morpheus exposes Neo to the truth that his world, where he is just regular Tom Anderson is made up. The Matrix, was created by sentient machines that subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Neo is reluctant to accept this truth that his original world, the matrix it is called, does not in fact exist. This relates to the “The Allegory of the Cave”, because Neo lived in ignorance his whole life, not knowing his reality was not the only one.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory of the Cave is a dialog between Socrates and Gloucon in The Republic written by Plato. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Socrates depicts a long, dark cave with a small opening that allows a small amount of light to enter. Inside the cave there group of prisoners, who have been in the cave for their entire lives. The prisoners legs and necks are chained to the cave floor so they are unable to move and can only look forward at the cave wall. At the back of the cave there is a fire that they are never able to view. In between the prisoners and the fire there is a low wall with a path behind it, along which people carry pictures, puppets, and statues. These pictures, puppets and statues are all the prisoners are able to see, and the echoes of the puppeteers when they speak are all they are able to hear. Although the prisoners are chained they are still content because all they have ever known are the shadows. None of them have ever seen anything beyond the cave and have no desire to do so. However one prisoner wakes up to find that he is no longer chained to the floor, and is able to leave the cave. Once the prisoner is outside he realizes that the shadows are not real. The prisoner then decides to return to the cave, to free the other prisoners, however reentering the cave would make his eyes have to…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato’s Allegory of the Cave envisions the world as a dark cave, with human beings as trapped prisoners, and all of their experiences as nothing but shadows on a wall. Plato was an Ancient Greek philosopher who founded the Academy and is the author of philosophical works of unparalleled influence in Western thought. Plato is informing us of the world around us, and is guiding the reader in the journey from ignorance to wisdom.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford/…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory Of The Cave

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The students in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara are enchained by their ignorance, in not needy to diversify their alive and apperception how the affluent last, equitable like the Prisoners in “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato who are physically chained to the estate only being powerful to see what is in front of them. In the two readings, the authors search and take apart the problem that relations have in not face ready for their worst and not wanting to turn their living to the reform. In the history of “The Lesson” the students are taken out of their sense of comfort, just as the person who got to pilled out of there cave in “The Allegory of the Cave.” The students in “The Lesson” are repugnant to leaving their insignificant…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato is a historical Greek philosopher and one of Socrate’s pupils. After Socrate died in 399 B.C., Plato left his home in Athens and returned approximately twenty years later. “The Allegory of the Cave” is a short story filled with symbolism and metaphors that Plato had written before he died. In the story, Plato wrote about Socrate and his brother, Glaucon, discussing the steps to obtain the truth and why one should obtain it.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Socrates begins the allegory, there is a cave with an opening but no natural lighting reaching far enough into the cave. And within that cave, there are people or slaves--that some would call--that are chained by their necks and legs that forces them to sit and not be able to turn their heads and stare at the…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In “The Allegory of the Cave”, I believe truth is being portrayed as something we as humans see, maybe only once, without it even being the whole truth. Even then we neglect to see “other truths.” According to Socrates, and I quote, “From the beginning people like this have never managed, whether on their own or with the help by others, to see anything besides the shadows that are [continually] projected on the wall opposite them by the glow of fire.” Socrates believes humans will automatically assume something to be truthful, and with no actual evidence that we won’t even bother to look at the sight of whatever it may actually be. At then end, if someone would try to tell us otherwise, we will neglect the actual truth and still believe we know what the truth really is. Even if the actual truth was shown to us, and we were seeing it with the naked eye, it will not be enough to convince us otherwise of our own perception. However, I believe Socrates is saying that as humans, we need to be forced to look at the “real truth” and that it will take time to assimilate to once we’re forcibly presented with it. However afterwards, we will see the light; we will see the real truths behind what we previously believed to be false. After the truth has been revealed to us, we will assimilate to it permanently. Socrates states, and I quote, “But I think that finally he would be in the condition to look at the sun itself, not just at its reflection whether in water or wherever else it might appear, but at the sun itself, as it is….” However, knowing too much of the truth can lead to conflicts, and that is probably why so many things are hidden from us. Maybe our problem is not that we don’t want to see the truth, but that we are scared of what the outcome may be if we do know the real truths.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory of the Cave

    • 4958 Words
    • 20 Pages

    “The purpose of communication is that it is the closest you can get to a person without actually being them”-Anonymous…

    • 4958 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both The Matrix and Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” suggest that humans experience discomfort when confronted with the truth, especially when it contradicts their prior beliefs. This discomfort may be so great that they will not accept the reality and resort to their previous beliefs that are false. Plato imagines prisoners in a cave—seeing nothing but shadows cast on the wall. While spending their entire lives in the cave, the chained prisoners are only able look forward at the shadows cast on the blank wall, which are projected by people and other objects passing between the prisoners and a fire. Since these shadows are the only images the prisoners see, they must constitute the real…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory of the Cave

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The cave represents the people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world.The prisoners represent an ignorant, unenlightened, and narrow society. This would comprise of those who have not yet understood the meaning of life.The prisoners are without sun, without a higher understanding, and have limited understanding.Those who are chained represent all human beings who have been forced to think in one particular way; The chains are symbolic of limitations that pull us away from the truth. These chains permit the prisoners only to see shadows replicated by a fire behind them. These chained prisoners are restricted to only what the fire allows them to see – their own perceptions. Because the prisoners cannot see what or who is behind them, they accept those shadows as reality.Their full understanding arises only when the shackles are unbound and can comprehend clearly. The cave shadows are ambiguous and unclear, distorted, without any true form. Plato successfully utilizes the shadows to demonstrate those who cannot see an accurate, clear reality. The prisoners are seeing the shadows as a reality of the visible world, yet their reality are flawed and not the true form. The shadows symbolize what we observe with our senses, and not with our mental understandings – they may well be misrepresentations but we are incapable of…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays