Plato's Cave on Ignorance
Education defeats Ignorance There is a commanding belief that our experiences of reality are just simply deceptions of the truth. In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, Socrates illustrates his perception about human knowledge. He contends that people are rarely able to escape from personal ignorance and with greater knowledge comes confusion and conflict when their own beliefs are challenged. (Socrates 20) The parallel Socrates makes in the allegory, is between a prisoner who breaks from the cave and is immediately overwhelmed by a completely new world and of people searching to find enlightenment in reality. (18-21) Socrates examines, the significant bravery essential to uncovering truth and that there are few who are able to go through the severe discomfort and inconvenience to experience it.
Freeing from the psychological prison we create by continuously depending on what we see and understand to be true realities can be achieved in learning and logical reasoning. “Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?” (Socrates 19). Demonstrated in this quote, is the beginning stage of acceptance and awareness; hesitation. This growing open-minded approach to unfamiliar situations is required in order to leave behind our old and ignorant ways. Socrates suggests to the reader that preparation for the real world and a need to pursue truths through the use of education will serve as guidance down more desirable life paths. He also introduces the idea of the immense responsibility those who have been fortunate enough to access higher education have to provide leadership and improvement in society. But, with the power of wisdom, comes ridicule and seclusion due to the ignorance prevalent in a population that prefers to live with their minds trapped inside the cave. In The Allegory of the Cave, Socrates helps us to recognize the blindness present in human society that he directly relates to lack