In this this writing I will show how Plato learns through an experiment in a cave, that what the mind sees from the light and it’s shadows he deems as a reality.
He uses prisoners whom are held captive in a cave and chained lock, stock and head restraints. Therefore they are forced to stair straight ahead. They have never seen the light of day. Instead the only reality they know are the shadows they see on the wall. These shadows are formed from a background of a fire pit, and then a jailer standing and walking in front of the flames causing the shadows on the walls in front of the prisoners to show different shapes and movement.
After years of staring at the shadows and hearing the sounds the jailers made, the prisoners accepted that the shadows were real and the sounds they heard came from them. Inn essence that was their reality. …show more content…
Which would obviously cause panic in the prisoner as this light would be hurting his eyes and causing a temporary blindness. Next the prisoner is forced to climb the stairs toward the light of day outside the cave. Again more panic and confusion…Slowly however he starts to regain his sight and is able to look closer and closer towards the sun. During this prosecco he is able to see all the shadows the sun reflects and all the beauty and splendor of the shapes and people above living on earth.
Now that he see’s a different light and the shadows it forms he realizes that life above out of the cave is way better with way more freedoms and things to experience. However he feels he must learn and go back into the cave to save his fellow prisoners from the only life they ever knew to show them this exiting life that exists above the depths of the cave they are held captive