Knowledge In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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Knowledge can most easily be defined as information that someone gains either from experience or education that leads them to better understand a specific topic. Knowledge can mean different things to different people and people can possess different types of knowledge. For example, a doctor may be extremely knowledgeable in medicine, but a lawyer may be knowledgeable in law. This doesn’t make either person more knowledgeable than the other. According to Socrates, knowledge is not something we learn, but a recollection of what we know. The question of Socrates’ knowledge arose when a man asked the Oracle of Delphi if there was anyone wiser than Socrates. When the oracle responded negatively, this was reported to Socrates, and he was astonished, …show more content…
Socrates sets the scene with a dark cave in which a group of people have been since birth. The people are bound so they can only see straight ahead. Behind them is a fire and various statues that cast shadows on the wall that the prisoners see. As a prisoner is freed from his bonds and forced to look at the fire, they understand how the fire and the statues cause the shadows, which represent real things in the world. Prisoners are then freed from the cave to see the world and real objects. The goal of education is to drag every prisoner as far out of the cave as possible. Socrates believes that education should not focus on putting knowledge into people’s souls, but more on turning the soul towards the right …show more content…
Plato’s novel, the Apology, is an account of the speech that Socrates makes at his trial in which he defines the examined life as a life that consists of morals and ethics. To truly live an examined life, one needs to put wisdom and virtue before self interest. Living an examined life means questioning your actions to determine if they are right or wrong. Socrates speaks a lot about the good life. The good life is one in which a person has strong morals and does what is right and just. Socrates denies having any kind of specialized knowledge, but also makes assertions such as “the unexamined life is not worth living” and “no one ever knowingly does wrong”. How can we reconcile these two different positions? Socrates’ ethical assertions are not really assertions of fact, and can not be verified or disproved. In the Apology, Socrates denies that he is a philosopher or sophist and asks the jury to ask those present if anyone heard him engaging in philosophy or being paid as a teacher, to which nobody
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