Explain the analogy of the cave in Plato’s republic (25 marks)

Plato, 428-347 B.C., was an Athenian philosopher who lived in Ancient Greece. In 407 B.C. he became a pupil and friend of Socrates. After living for a time at the Syracuse court, Plato founded (c.387 B.C.) near Athens the most influential school of the ancient world, the Academy, where he taught until his death. The “Republic” is one of Plato’s greatest books that he has written. Plato’s presents one of the most famous analogies in philosophy: the cave. This analogy illustrates the effects of true knowledge. True knowledge moves the philosopher through life without any distractions, which in due course brings him to the Form of the Good. He tells the Allegory of the Cave as a conversation between his teacher Socrates who inspired many of Plato's philosophical theories and Glaucon.
In the dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave, in which prisoners have been kept since their childhood, and each of them is held where they are all chained so that their legs and necks are unable to turn or allow them to move. This leaves them in a predicament where they’re forced to look at a wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is a fire and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway (bridge), on which people can walk. These people are shadow play, and they are carrying objects, in the shape of human and animal figures, as well as everyday items. The prisoners could only see these flickering images on the wall, since they could not move their heads; and so, naturally enough, they assumed the images to be real, rather than just shadowy representations of what is actually real.
They believe the shadows are true, as well as the echoed voices they hear; they also believe to be true. Then one day one prisoner is released. This prisoner walks up into the sunlight, which blinds and pains his eyes. When the prisoner’s eyes have fully adjusted to the brightness, he lifts his sight toward the heavens and looks at the sun. He understands that the sun is the cause of everything he sees around him. The released prisoner will see beyond the shadows that were on the wall. With the sun represents the Form of the Good and the former prisoner has reached the stage of understanding. After adjusting to the true light of the sun, the prisoner returns to the other prisoners. Only to be mocked by the prisoners who had not seen true reality. They would believe that his embark on discovering true knowledge would have weakened his mind and abilities.
Plato believed that things that are in the world are imperfect copies of that is in the world of Forms. He also believed in various types of Forms and everything has a form. There are Forms of values: Beauty, Justice and Wisdom; living things: dogs, cats; Objects: tables and chairs; Mathematical concepts: circles and triangles. The Form that is the most important is the Form of the Good. We cannot see the Form of the good; it is unavailable with our senses as Plato believed that our senses deceived us. The further away from Good you get, the paler things become. Plato believed knowledge of the Good is the highest knowledge that man is capable of. The ordinary person would struggle to see beyond the illusion of the world they are in. Only a person who can investigates and pursues questions and sees beyond their senses will then have true knowledge. In which Plato believed that only a philosopher is capable of doing so as he would have priori knowledge.
Within Plato’s analogy you begin to see the difference between the world which is represented by the cave and the reality behind the appearance which is represented by the outside world. The prisoners represent people who have not experienced the outside world yet and are being deceived by their senses meaning we don’t experience true reality. The shadow play represents the illusion created by our senses our senses cannot experience true reality. The cave signifies the visible world and the shadows that the prisoners saw that represented appearances seemed real to the prisoners and appeared to be the truth. It also depicts the human body which captures the soul. The body prevents the soul from seeking true knowledge. When the prisoner goes to the outside world, it represents the philosopher’s discovery of true knowledge. The prisoner had to be freed too see reality same way a philosopher. Same ways a philosopher must free themselves from their senses too gain true knowledge. The sun in the cave analogy shows the most perfect of all realities, which is known as the Form of the Good. The aim is to gain knowledge of this because it would allow us to understand the world truly. And finally the prisoner returning to the prison would illustrate when a philosopher goes back to enlighten those that are yet to discover true knowledge.

The analogy of the cave tells us nothing about reality (10 marks)

The analogy of Plato’s cave shows us that as human we cannot trust our senses and what we perceive to be reality as humans is not what it seems as it replicates what true reality is. It is quite debatable whether the analogy of Plato’s cave really tells us about reality.
It can be said that Plato’s cave does tell us anything about reality as we have survived for millions and millions of years by using our senses. It would be impossible for us to live without them. The senses are hearing, sight, taste, touch and smell. Plato believed that in order for us as humans to understand reality we must not use our senses. He thought that we should embark on true knowledge. For example one could think about chocolate and think about what it would taste like, but you would be able to imagine what the chocolate really tastes like. As humans we wouldn’t be able to know what the chocolate tastes like without physically eating it and using our senses. This proves that the analogy of the cave tells us nothing about reality. Additionally, in the cave analogy only represents the philosopher being released and gaining true knowledge of society. It then narrows down that true reality is only limited to philosophers.
On the other hand, it can be said that the analogy of the cave does show true reality because it is only an analogy that is trying to tell us something; therefore we must read between the lines and ask questions without accepting things on face value. Just how there is some contradictions in religion and in holy books scriptures they’re open to interpretation and can be seen differently. For example in the bible Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul is not telling the church at that they can do anything they want or can do all things that they want to do. He is saying that we can do anything “through Christ” or seek “in Christ.” This would mean that the analogy of the cave can actually tell us something about reality if we search hard enough. Furthermore, it is true that some people only see past what they want therefore there must be some sort of element of truth in this analogy which can tell us about reality.
To conclude, I believe that the analogy of the cave does not really tell us about reality as we have to not use our senses which Plato believed deceived us. However we as human’s have relied on our senses therefore Plato’s belief on reality would not exist as we have to use our senses to understand what are embarking on.