remake of blog 4

Summary of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”


In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Socrates is tell how how they was kept in a crave from there childhood.They say that human beings living in an under ground den. Then has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den. Here these people have been there since they were children. Thier legs and necks chained so that they are not able to move. They can only see before them and plus being prevented by the chains from turning their necks around.  Behind them burns a fire.  Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them.The figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials. He also talks about how when people come fromt the cave into thge light the see how the workld looks and how much more different it then liven in a cave and how they feel so amaze to learn about the out side of the cave. Then he says that they have  to kill the people that come out of the cave try to share there knowlege of the new world they have saw. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.
My Place in the Cave
Living in ignorance reminds me of being in a "cave" chained to what you only know; people who do not want to learn new things remind me of the prisoners in the passage who knew nothing more than images reflected by fire, these chains represent complacement and unwillingeness to learn. Personally I am coming out of the “cave”, I started a new experience and can felicitate myself on this change. I am now looking at a new day with bright light, standing in this new light reminds me of just seeing the sun for the first time, this glisten blinds me. By not following through with my education I was chained by ignorance, I lived in a “Cave” as if I was facing in only one direction and couldn't move. I’ve personally made the effort to enter school with a brighter thought in my mind and convinced myself after so many false attempts, that this is it, I am ready for this new world. I am willing to prove myself and to step forward into a new light so I can teach others what I have learned and what my experiences will be over the period of my success. After all, when I remember my old habitation I can't see myself going back into the "cave" I once came out of.
 These people are symbolized in the passage by the released prisoner  who had the chance to see light and went back to share his new knowledge with his pals but they could not understand him because they ignored reality. Socrates said “My opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort". How would we know what this world has to offer if we don’t  give ourselves the chance to learn new things?  I was once told “Knowledge is knowing what you don’t know” I want to experience what the "cave" cannot offer. If I was in the cave i would like to know about the out side world and get knowledge about the out side world. Socrates next introduces something new to this scenario. Suppose that a prisoner is freed and permitted to stand up. If someone were to show him the things that had cast the shadows, he would not recognize them for what they were and could not name them; he would believe the shadows on the wall to be more real than what he sees.