Blog 5

The Allegory of the Cave

     The Allegory of the Cave is written by the philosopher Plato, but is told in the perspective of his mentor Socrates.  Socrates tells his friend Glaucon the story of people who have been chained down in a cave their whole lives.  There is only a little bit of light along the cave from a fire, which is all the people know.  Socrates suggests to Glaucon to then take the people out of the cave and introduce them to sunlight.  He wonders what would happen if they saw the sun, if they would run away to the cave or embrace it and take pity on those who can’t experience it.  He then suggests that the people might try to kill the one who left for trying to persuade them to go outside.  The cave is all they know and no matter how convincing his argument is they won't leave.

     What Socrates is trying to explain to Glaucon with this hypothetical story is that humans live in pure ignorance and they refuse to accept the truth no matter what.  These people have lived their whole lives in a single illusion and that's what they choose to believe.