plato's allegory of the cave thesis

A Summary and Analysis of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Perhaps the most famous idea in all of Plato’s work is the Allegory of the Cave. This much-discussed (and much-misunderstood) story is a key part of Plato’s Republic , a work which has the claim to be the first ever literary utopia.

In The Republic , Plato and a number of other philosophers discuss the ideal society, focusing on education, political leadership, and the role and responsibility of the individual within society.

The Allegory of the Cave represents a number of the core ideas of Plato’s thinking in one short, accessible parable. But what is the meaning of this allegory? Before we offer an analysis of Plato’s idea, here’s a summary of what he says about it in The Republic .

One of the key ideas on Plato’s Republic is his theory of forms, where ‘forms’ means much the same as ‘ideas’. And the Allegory of the Cave represents Plato’s approach to ideas.

We are invited to imagine a group of people sitting in an underground cave, facing the walls. They are chained up and they cannot move their heads. Behind them, a fire is forever burning, and its flames cast shadows onto the cave walls.

Between the fire and the cave walls, there is a road, and people walk along this road, carrying various objects: models of animals made of stone and wood, human statuettes, and other things. The people who walk along the road, and the objects they carry, cast shadows on the cave walls.

The people who are chained in the cave and facing the wall can only see the shadows of the people (and the objects they carry): never the actual people and objects walking past behind them. To the people chained up in the cave, these shadows appear to be reality, because they don’t know any better.

Reality, to these people chained in the cave, is only ever a copy of a copy: the shadows of the original forms which themselves remain beyond our view.

But someone comes and unchains the people in the cave. Now they’re free. Let’s say that one of them is set free and encouraged to look towards the fire behind him and his fellow cave-dwellers. He can now see that the things he took for reality until now were merely shadows on the wall.

But this knowledge isn’t, at first, a good thing. The revelation is almost overwhelming. The light of the fire hurts his eyes, and when he is dragged up the slope that leads out of the cave, and he sees the sun outside, and is overwhelmed by its light.

In time, however, he comes to accept that the sun is the true source of light in the world, the cause of the seasons and the annual cycle of things. And he would come to feel sorry for those who remain behind in the cave and are content to believe that the shadows on the cave wall are reality. Indeed, the people who remain behind in the cave believe he wasted his time in going outside and simply ruined his eyes for nothing.

But the man who has been outside knows there is no going back to his old beliefs: his perception of the world has changed forever. He cannot rejoin those prisoners who sit and watch the shadows on the wall. They, for their part, would resist his attempts to free them, and would sooner killer him than be led out of the cave, as he was.

And so if the man who has seen the sun returns to the cave, his eyes will take time to adjust back to the darkness of the cave and to the shadows on the wall. He will now be at a disadvantage to his fellow cave-dwellers, who have never left the cave and seen the light.

An allegory is a story that has a double meaning : as The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory puts it, an allegory has a primary or surface meaning, but it also has a secondary or under-the-surface meaning. This is certainly true of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. But what is its secondary meaning?

Although The Republic is classified as a work of philosophy, it is structured more like a dialogue or even a play (though not a dramatic one), in that it takes the form of a conversation between several philosophers: Socrates, Glaucon, Plato himself, and a number of other figures are all ‘characters’ in the Republic .

The Allegory of the Cave, as Plato’s comments indicate, is about the philosopher seeing beyond the material world and into the ‘intelligible’ one. The symbolism of the cave being underground is significant, for the philosopher’s journey is upwards towards higher things, including the sun: a symbol for the divine, but also for truth (those two things are often conflated in religions: Jesus, for example, referred to himself as ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ in John 14:6).

Plato insists, however, that the philosopher has a duty to return to the material world, to the world of the cave and its inhabitants (or prisoners ), and to try to open their eyes to the truth. It is no good leaving the cave behind. The philosopher must return down into the cave and face ridicule or even persecution for what he has to say: he has to be prepared for the unpleasant fact that most people, contented with their mental ‘chains’ and their limited view of the world, will actively turn on anyone who challenges their beliefs, no matter how wrong those beliefs are.

People come to love their chains, and being shown that everything you’ve believed is a lie will prove too much (as Plato acknowledges) for many people, and even, initially, for the philosopher. (It is curious how prophetic Plato was: his teacher and friend Socrates would indeed be ridiculed by Aristophanes in his play The Clouds , and later he would be put on trial, and sentenced to death, for his teachings.)

In other words, those people who have seen the ideal world, have a responsibility to educate those in the material world rather than keep their knowledge to themselves. So we can see how Plato’s Allegory of the Cave relates not only to the core ideas of The Republic , but also to Plato’s philosophy more broadly.

There are several further details to note about the symbolism present in the allegory. One detail which is often overlooked, but which is important to note, is the significance of those objects which the people on the road are carrying: they are, Plato tells us, human statuettes or animal models carved from wood or stone.

Why is this significant? These objects cast their shadows on the walls of the cave, and the people chained in the cave mistake the shadows for the real objects, because they don’t know anything different. But the objects themselves are copies of things rather than the original things themselves: statues of humans rather than real humans, and models of animals rather than the real thing.

So, as Robin Waterfield notes in his excellent notes to his translation of Plato’s Republic , the objects are ‘effigies’ of real things, or reflections of types . This means that the shadows on the wall are reflections of reflections of types, therefore. So (as Waterfield puts it) the shadows on the wall might represent, say, a kind of moral action, while the objects/statues/effigies themselves are a person’s thoughts on morality.

When these thoughts are observed in the material world (i.e., on the cave wall), we are observing a moral action somebody has taken, which is a reflection of some moral code or belief (the effigy that cast the shadow).

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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Introduction.

Imagine living in a dark place where everything you see is just a shadow, and your whole life you believe these shadows are the only real things. Well, this picture is part of a famous story called Plato ’s Allegory of the Cave. It’s a story that Plato, a great thinker from ancient Greece, wrote to help us understand the difference between what seems real to us and what is actually real. It’s not just a puzzle about truth, but it’s a kind of riddle that makes us think hard about what we know and what we don’t know.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave comes from his writing called “The Republic,” which shows us how easily we can be fooled by fake things and how surprising the truth can be when we first learn about it. So, let’s explore this allegory, which isn’t just a story, but a deep lesson about life and the search for truth.

Definitions of the Topic

First Definition: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is a symbolic story about people who are trapped inside a dark cave. These people have been there since they were born and are tied up so they can only look at the cave wall in front of them. Behind them is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners, there are people holding up objects that cast shadows on the wall. The prisoners think these shadows are all that is real because they never saw the actual objects or the world outside the cave.

Second Definition: The allegory is also about what happens when one prisoner gets free and sees the real world for the first time. At first, it’s overwhelming and hard for him to understand, but as his eyes get used to the light, he starts to see how the shadows in the cave were just copies of the real things outside. When he goes back to the cave to tell the others, they don’t believe him. This part of the story shows us what it’s like to discover deeper truths about life and how tough it can be when others don’t understand or accept these truths.

Key Arguments

• Perception is not reality: What we think we see and understand isn’t necessarily the truth. It might just be a shadow or an impression of the real thing, like the shadows on the cave wall are not real objects.
• Ignorance blinds us: If you haven’t had a chance to learn or see something different, you don’t know what you’re missing. The prisoners in the cave don’t know there’s more to see because they’ve never seen the outside world.
• Education is enlightening: Learning about new things can be like moving from a dark place into the light, where you can see everything more clearly. This is like the prisoner who escapes and learns about the real world.
• Resistance to enlightenment: Sometimes when people learn new things that are different from what they always believed, they don’t want to accept it. This is like the prisoners who don’t believe the freed prisoner when he comes back to tell them about the outside world.
• Responsibility to educate: When someone learns the truth, it’s like they have a job to teach others, even if it’s difficult or if people make fun of them. The freed prisoner felt that he had to go back and tell the others what he saw, even though they didn’t listen.

Answer or Resolution

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave isn’t about giving us a clear answer to a problem. Instead, it’s a way to make us think and question. The story ends with us thinking about our own journey to learn and become better. It’s about moving from what we know now, which might not be complete or true, to somewhere brighter where we understand more about ourselves and the world.

Major Criticism

Not everyone agrees with what the Allegory of the Cave tries to say. Some people think it tells us that only a few can really know the truth, which seems unfair. Others don’t believe there is just one true reality to find. And some people argue that it’s not enough to just think about big ideas; we also need to know things that help us in our everyday life, like science and practical skills.

Why It’s Important

This allegory is important because it helps us understand that it’s easy to accept simple answers and not look deeper. Realizing that there’s more to learn, even if it’s tough, is a huge part of growing and becoming wiser. It’s like having a map that shows there’s more beyond what we know.

For anyone, no matter their age, the allegory teaches a valuable lesson about being open-minded and always looking to learn. Instead of just taking things as they are, it encourages us to ask questions, seek the truth, and not be afraid to change our minds when we find new information. The cave is a symbolic place where we might be stuck, but learning and questioning can be the light that leads us out to a bigger and brighter world.

Practical Applications

• Education: The allegory tells teachers and students that learning isn’t just about memorizing facts. It’s about thinking deeply and understanding big ideas. This helps students become better at solving problems and making decisions.
• Psychology: It relates to how we grow and change in our thinking. As we have new experiences and learn more, our beliefs and thoughts can change, just like the prisoner’s did when he saw the outside world.
• Political Philosophy : It warns us to be careful about how leaders and governments might try to trick us by controlling what we see and hear. People need to think critically about what they’re told, especially when it comes to making decisions about their community or country.
• Media Studies: The allegory can explain how the media can present things in a way that isn’t always true to make people believe a certain point of view. This shows the need to look at different sources and think for ourselves instead of just believing everything we see on TV or online.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave reminds us that there’s always a lot more to discover, about the world and about ourselves. It’s a story about what it means to really learn and understand, and it calls on us to never stop searching for what’s real and true.

Related Topics

• Epistemology : This is the study of knowledge , asking questions like “What is knowledge?” and “How do we know something is true?” It’s closely related to the allegory because Plato is showing us how hard it can be to really know the truth.
• Metaphysics : Metaphysics is all about the nature of reality. It tries to understand what exists beyond what we can see and touch. In the allegory, the idea that there is a truer reality outside the cave is a metaphysical idea.
• Socratic Method: Named after Socrates, Plato’s teacher, the Socratic Method is a way of exploring ideas by asking lots of questions. This method gets us to think and learn, much like the story of the cave encourages us to ask what’s really true.
• Symbolism: In literature and art, symbolism is using symbols to give deeper meaning to something. The cave, the shadows, and the journey outside are all symbols in Plato’s story, representing deeper ideas about life, truth, and knowledge.

So, what’s the big takeaway from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave? It’s a story about our journey to understand the world and ourselves. It shows us that what we think is real might be just shadows on a wall, and that the truth is often bigger and more complex than we could imagine. The allegory doesn’t just leave us thinking; it also calls us to act by being curious, learning more, and helping others to understand. It’s not just a philosophical puzzle; it’s a guide for life, encouraging us to step out of our own “caves” and explore the light of knowledge and truth.

Unit 2: Metaphysics

An Introduction to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

Heather Wilburn, Ph.D

Plato’s Objective: illustrate the effects of education, or lack thereof, on the soul (i.e. psyche)

Part I: Two preliminary questions to start:

• What is an allegory and how are allegories useful?
• The aim of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is to illustrate the effects of education on the soul. What does Plato mean by education in this allegory?

Part II: The Allegory (broken into 5 sections):

Section 1 Inside the Cave & Shackled:

• Prisoners shackled and only able to look straight ahead at the cave wall.
• There is a fire and a wall behind them and people are carrying puppets just above the wall to project shadows on the cave wall in front of the prisoners.
• Prisoners have never experienced anything other than the shadows.
• Prisoners play games by attempting to identify the shadows and make predictions about which shadow will appear next. They are honored with praise and rewards.

Consider the following:

• Is there anything about the allegory that resembles your own education?
• What do the shadows, the puppets and statues, and the puppet masters represent in Plato’s allegory?
• What types of rewards and praises have you or others received that would be analogous to what Plato has in mind here?

Section 2 Inside the Cave and Physically Free:

• A prisoner is freed and painfully turns around to be blinded by the light of the fire.
• Even once the prisoner’s eyes adjust and she is shown the puppets, she prefers the shadows.
• What does the fire represent in the allegory and why is experiencing the fire so painful?
• Have you ever experienced a painful transformation like the freed prisoner?

Section 3 Exiting the Cave:

• The prisoner is dragged outside of the cave.
• This is a painful experience and she is angry because she is being forced to turn away from everything she has ever known.
• She is also blinded again, this time by the light of the sun.
• As she adjusts to the world outside the cave, she at first would only be able to see shadows, then physical objects, and eventually comes to contemplate the stars and moon.
• How should we think about the cognitive or intellectual transformation the prisoner has undergone?

Section 4 The Sun:

• Over time the prisoner will adjust her vision and be capable of viewing the sun as an object of contemplation.
• She would come to understand that the sun is responsible for the seasons and for all things that we see and know.
• Finally, the prisoner feels grateful for the transformation that she has undergone and comes to pity those still shackled.
• What does the sun represent in this allegory?

Section 5 The Return:

• Moving from sunlight back to the darkness of the cave, the freed prisoner would struggle to see.
• She would not be very good at their games because of her inability to clearly see.
• The others would tell her that she had ruined her vision by leaving and ridicule her and tell her she was unable to participate in their games.
• She tries to free them–to liberate them so they too can be transformed, but they resist and kill her.
• Imagine the resistance you might feel if you were the prisoner trying to return as a guide.
• Plato’s account connects desire to education. How can education be cultivated or thwarted by one’s desires? Which type of desires might be useful for the type of liberation Plato has in mind?

Here’s a video that highlights some important points to consider:

An Introduction to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" Copyright © 2020 by Heather Wilburn, Ph.D is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Allegory of the Cave From the Republic of Plato

Plato's Best-Known Metaphor About Enlightenment

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The Allegory of the Cave is a story from Book VII in the Greek philosopher Plato's masterpiece "The Republic," written around B.C.E. 375. It is probably Plato's best-known story, and its placement in "The Republic" is significant. "The Republic" is the centerpiece of Plato's philosophy, centrally concerned with how people acquire knowledge about beauty, justice, and good. The Allegory of the Cave uses the metaphor of prisoners chained in the dark to explain the difficulties of reaching and sustaining a just and intellectual spirit.

The allegory is set forth in a dialogue as a conversation between Socrates and his disciple Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon to imagine people living in a great underground cave, which is only open to the outside at the end of a steep and difficult ascent. Most of the people in the cave are prisoners chained facing the back wall of the cave so that they can neither move nor turn their heads. A great fire burns behind them, and all the prisoners can see are the shadows playing on the wall in front of them. They have been chained in that position all their lives.

There are others in the cave, carrying objects, but all the prisoners can see of them is their shadows. Some of the others speak, but there are echoes in the cave that make it difficult for the prisoners to understand which person is saying what.

Freedom From Chains

Socrates then describes the difficulties a prisoner might have adapting to being freed. When he sees that there are solid objects in the cave, not just shadows, he is confused. Instructors can tell him that what he saw before was an illusion, but at first, he'll assume his shadow life was the reality.

Eventually, he will be dragged out into the sun, be painfully dazzled by the brightness, and stunned by the beauty of the moon and the stars. Once he becomes accustomed to the light, he will pity the people in the cave and want to stay above and apart from them, but think of them and his own past no longer. The new arrivals will choose to remain in the light, but, says Socrates, they must not. Because for true enlightenment, to understand and apply what is goodness and justice, they must descend back into the darkness, join the men chained to the wall, and share that knowledge with them.

The Allegorical Meaning

In the next chapter of "The Republic," Socrates explains what he meant, that the cave represents the world, the region of life which is revealed to us only through the sense of sight. The ascent out of the cave is the journey of the soul into the region of the intelligible.

The path to enlightenment is painful and arduous, says Plato , and requires that we make four stages in our development.

• Imprisonment in the cave (the imaginary world)
• Release from chains (the real, sensual world)
• Ascent out of the cave (the world of ideas)
• The way back to help our fellows

Resources and Further Reading

• Buckle, Stephen. “ Descartes, Plato and the Cave .” Philosophy , vol. 82, no. 320, Apr. 2007, pp. 301-337. JSTOR .
• Juge, Carole. “ The Road to the Sun They Cannot See: Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Oblivion, and Guidance in Cormac McCarthy's ‘The Road' ." The Cormac McCarthy Journal , vol. 7, no. 1, 2009, pp. 16-30. JSTOR .
• Ursic, Marko, and Andrew Louth. “ The Allegory of the Cave: Transcendence in Platonism and Christianity .” Hermathena , no. 165, 1998, pp. 85-107. JSTOR .
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Allegory of the Cave by Plato Essay

Although antiquity, Plato’s Myth of the Cave is extraordinarily relevant today and can be interpreted in relation to how modern man absorbs information. Thus, Plato’s myth is an allegory, revealing a series of eternal philosophical ideas. Among them is the existence of objective truth, which is independent of people’s opinions; the presence of constant deceptions that make a person stay away from this truth; and the need for qualitative changes to access the truth.

Current scenarios can be easily compared with the ideas of Plato, reflected in his myth of the cave. One example is the information broadcast by the media today. This process can be analyzed through the stages of Plato’s allegory. The starting point is deception when the reality represented by the sources of information is only a shadow of reality and is filled with subjective ideas. At this stage, people consume information without even questioning it. Plato explains why people are so easily succumbed to misinformation, which is sometimes an obvious deception. According to Lawhead (2014), the point is that when people have no reason to doubt something, they do not, and lies prevail. Thus, the majority absorbs information without giving it critical analysis.

Some manage to reach the second stage, liberation, through questioning, analysis, research, and study. People become restless and insecure at this stage as beliefs are undermined and shaken. To get through this state, it is necessary to continue to move forward and discover new knowledge. Then follows the most challenging stage of acceptance, which involves rejecting old beliefs and adopting new ones. Plato considered that the past determines how a person experiences the present (Lawhead, 2014). Therefore, the philosopher suggested that a radical change in the way of understanding things leads to confusion and discomfort.

Finally, there is the spread of new ideas, which is characterized by confusion, contempt, misunderstanding, and even hatred, as the fundamental dogmas that are generally accepted by society are questioned. Thus, the meaning of Plato’s myth lies in the fact that reality can only be comprehended after a person leaves the cave and remains there, despite the difficulties that arise. Remaining in a cave, or in the modern sense, tied to a screen, one sees a distortion of reality and remains limited by the controlling forces.

Lawhead, W. F. (2014). The voyage of discovery: A historical introduction to philosophy (4 th ed.). Cengage Learning.

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1. IvyPanda . "Allegory of the Cave by Plato." November 16, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/allegory-of-the-cave-by-plato-essay-examples/.

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The Allegory of the Cave

From plato’s republic (book vii 514-521a).

[Dialogue between the Teacher (Socrates) and the Student ( Glaucon )]

Compare the effect of education and of the lack of it on our nature to an experience like this: Imagine human beings living in an underground cave, with an entrance high up, which is open to the light and as wide as the cave itself. They’ve been there since childhood, fixed in the same place, with their necks and legs chained, able to see only in front of them, because their chains prevent them from turning their heads around. Light is provided by a fire burning far above and behind them. Also behind them, but on higher ground, is a path stretching between them and the fire. Imagine that along this path a low wall has been built, like the screen in front of puppeteers above which they show their puppets.

I’m imagining it.

Then also imagine that there are people along the wall, carrying all kinds of objects that project above it- statues of people and other animals, made out of stone, wood, and every material. As you’d expect, some of the carriers are talking and some are silent.

It’s a strange image you’re describing and strange prisoners.

They’re like us. Do you suppose, first of all, that these Prisoners see anything of themselves and one another besides the shadows that the fire casts on the wall in front of them?

How could they, if they have to keep their heads motionless throughout life?

What about the things being carried along the wall? Isn’t the same true of them?

If they could talk to one another, don’t you think they’d suppose that the names they used applied to the things they see passing before them?

They’d have to.

What if their prison also had an echo from the wall facing them? Don’t you think they’d believe that the shadows passing in front of them were talking whenever one of the carriers passing along the wall was talking?

I certainly do.

Then the prisoners would in every way believe that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of those objects.

They must surely believe that.

Consider then, what it would be like if they were released from their bondage and cured of their ignorance. When one of them was freed and suddenly forced to stand up, turn his head, walk, and look up toward the light, he’d be in pain and dazzled and unable to see the things whose shadows he’d seen before. What do you think he’d say, if we told him that what he’d seen before was actually empty, but now, because he is a bit closer and turned toward the real objects, he sees more correctly? Or to put it another way, if we pointed to each of the things passing by, asked him what each of them is, and compelled him to answer, don’t you think he’d be at a loss and that he’d believe that the shadows he saw earlier were truer than the real objects he was now being shown?

Much truer.

If someone coerced him to look at the light itself, wouldn’t his eyes hurt and wouldn’t he turn around and run toward the things he’s able to see, believing that they’re clearer than the new and unfamiliar ones he’s being shown?

If someone dragged him away from there by force, up the rough steep path, and didn’t let him go until he dragged him into the sunlight, wouldn’t he be in pain and irritated at being treated that way? When he came into the light, with the sun filling his eyes, wouldn’t he be unable to see a single one of the things now said to be real?

He would be unable to see them, at least at first.

I suppose, then, that he’d need time to get adjusted before he could see things in the world above. At first, he’d see shadows most easily, then images of men and other things as reflected in water, and finally he would see the actual things themselves. At first, he’d be able to study the things in the sky and the sky itself at night, looking at the light of the stars and the moon more easily than during the day, looking at the sun and the light of the sun.

Finally, I suppose he’d be able to see the sun, not merely images of it reflected in water or some shadowy place but the sun itself, in its own place and be able to study it.

Necessarily so.

At this point he would infer and conclude that the sun provides the seasons and the years, governs everything in the visible world, and is in some way the cause of all the things that he sees.

It’s clear that would be his next step.

What about when he reminds himself of his first dwelling place in the cave, his fellow prisoners, and what was accepted as truth there? Don’t you think that he’d count himself blessed for his change and he’d pity the others remaining in the darkness?

If there had been any honors, praises, or prizes among them for the one who was sharpest at identifying the shadows as they passed by and who best remembered which usually came earlier, which followed later, and which appeared simultaneously, and who could best divine the future, do you think that our man would desire these rewards or envy the prisoners who were honored and considered powerful? Instead, wouldn’t he feel with Homer that he’d much prefer to “be a poor servant of a poor master,” and endure sufferings here in the light rather than think as they think and live as they live in the darkness?

I suppose he would rather suffer anything than live like that again.

Consider this also. If this man returned to the cave below and sat down in his old seat, wouldn’t his eyes be unable to focus coming suddenly out of the sun like that?

They certainly would.

Before his eyes had recovered because the adjustment would not be quick, while his vision was still dim, if he had to compete again with the perpetual prisoners in recognizing the shadows, wouldn’t he be ridiculed by them? Wouldn’t they say that he’d returned from his upward journey with his eyesight ruined and that it isn’t worthwhile even to try to travel upward? As for anyone who tried to free them and lead them above, if they could somehow get their hands on him, wouldn’t they kill that person attempting to free them?

This whole image, Glaucon, describes what we said before. The visible realm should be likened to the prison of the cave and the light of the fire inside it to the power of the sun. If you interpret the upward journey and the study of things above as the upward journey of the soul to the intellectual realm, you’ll grasp what I hope to convey, since that is what you wanted to hear about. Whether it’s true or not, only God knows. But this is how I see it: In the world of knowledge, the idea of Good is the last thing to be seen and it is reached only with great effort. Once one has seen it, however, one must conclude that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source in the visible realm, and that in the intelligible realm it controls and provides truth and understanding, so that anyone who is to act sensibly in private or public must see it.

I have the same thought, at least as far as I’m able to see.

Come then, share with me this thought also: It isn’t surprising that the ones who get to this point no longer desire to occupy themselves with mundane and silly affairs and that their souls are always pressing upwards, eager to spend their time above in the true light, for after all, this is surely what we’d expect if indeed things fit the image I have described.

Now, what happens when someone turns from the divine search back to the corruptions of human life? Do you think it’s surprising, since his sight is still weak, and he hasn’t yet become accustomed to the darkness around him, that he behaves awkwardly and appears completely ridiculous when he must, either in the courts or elsewhere, contend with the shadows of truth and the ideas the shadows represent and dispute the way these things are understood by people who have never seen truth itself?

That’s not surprising at all.

No, it isn’t. But anyone with any understanding would remember that the eyes can be confused in two ways and from two causes, namely, when they’ve come from the light into the darkness and when they’ve come from the darkness into the light. Realizing that the same applies to the soul, when someone sees a soul disturbed and unable to see something, he won’t laugh mindlessly, but he’ll take into consideration whether he has come from a brighter life and is dimmed through not having yet become accustomed to the dark or whether he has come from greater ignorance into greater light and is dazzled by the increased brilliance. Then he’ll declare the first soul happy in its experience and life, and he’ll pity the latter. But even if he chose to make fun of it, at least he’d be less silly than if he laughed at a soul that has come from the light above.

What you say is very reasonable.

If that’s true, then here’s what we must think about these matters: Education isn’t what some people declare it to be, namely, putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes.

They do say that.

Our present discussion, on the other hand, shows that the power to learn is present in everyone’s soul and that just as the eye cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body, so too, the ability to know truth can only occur with the movement of the whole soul through increasing levels of light. This is moving upward and coming into being (becoming) is able to discern the brightest thing that exists, which is, the One we call Good. Isn’t that right?

Then education is the art concerned with doing this very thing, this turning around the soul toward the light in the most easily and effectively way to do it. It isn’t the art of putting sight into the soul. Education should take for granted that sight is already there but that it isn’t turned the right way or looking where it ought to look, so education tries to redirect it appropriately.

So it seems.

Now, it looks as though the other so-called virtues are those of the physical body, for they aren’t there beforehand but are added later by exercise and practice. However, the virtue of reason seems to belong above all to something more divine, which never loses its power but is either useful and beneficial or useless and harmful, depending on the way it is turned. Have you ever noticed this about people who are said to be vicious but clever, how keen the vision of their little souls is and how sharply it distinguishes the things it is turned toward? This shows that its sight isn’t inferior but rather is forced to serve evil ends so that the keener it sees, the more evil it accomplishes.

Absolutely.

However, if a soul like this from childhood was turned away from those things that would pull its vision downward and if being rid of these, it turned to look at true things, then I say that the same soul of the same person would see these good things most sharply, just as it now does the evil things it is presently turned toward.

Probably so.

What about the uneducated who have no experience of truth? Isn’t it likely, indeed, doesn’t it follow necessarily from what was said before, that they can never adequately lead a city? But neither would those who’ve been allowed to spend their whole lives being educated. The former would fail because all their actions, public and private are not aimed at a single goal; the latter would fail because they refuse to act, thinking that they had life but they are living in a place of death.

That’s true.

Then, it is our task as leaders to encourage the best natures to reach for what is most important, namely, to make the ascent and see the good. But when they’ve made it and looked sufficiently, we mustn’t allow them to do what they’re allowed to do today.

What’s that?

To stay there and refuse to go down again to the prisoners in the cave and share their experiences and knowledge, whether they are considered of less worth or of greater.

Then are we to do them an injustice by making them live a worse life when they could live a better, more comfortable one?

You are forgetting again that it isn’t the law’s concern to make any one class in the city outstandingly happy but to contrive to spread happiness throughout the city by bringing the citizens into harmony with each other through persuasion or compulsion and by making them share with each other the benefits that each class can confer on the community. The law produces such people in the city, not in order to allow them to turn in whatever direction they want, but to make use of them to bind the city together.

That’s true, I had forgotten.

Observe, then, Glaucon, that we won’t be doing an injustice to those who’ve become philosophers in our city. What we’ll say to them when we encourage them to guard and care for the others, will be just. We’ll say, “When people like you come to be in other cities, they’re justified in not sharing in their city’s politics, for they’ve grown there at their own will, against the will of the constitution. Being self-taught, they cannot be expected to show any gratitude for a culture in which they have never received. But we’ve made you leaders in our city and leaders of the people, as it were, both for yourselves and for the rest of the city. You’re better and more completely educated than the others and are better able to share in both types of life. Therefore each of you in turn must go down to live in the common dwelling place of the others and grow accustomed to seeing in the dark. When you are used to it, you’ll see vastly better than the people there. Because you’ve seen the truth about fine, just, and good things, you’ll know each image for what it is and also what it represents. Thus for you and for us, the city will be governed, not like the majority of cities nowadays, by people who fight over shadows and struggle against one another in order to rule and have power, as if that were a great good, but by people who are awake rather than dreaming. The truth is surely this: A city whose leaders are least eager to rule is governed in the way that is free from a faction, while the city whose leaders crave power is the opposite.”

Then do you think that those we’ve nurtured will disobey us and refuse to share the responsibilities of leading the city, each in turn, while living the greater part of their time with one another in the pure realm?

It isn’t possible, for they are just people.

Each of them will certainly go to lead because it is something they must do, however, exactly the opposite is what’s done by those who now lead in each city. This is how it is. Your wellgoverned city will become a possibility only when the truly rich rule— not those who are rich in gold but those who are rich in what is necessary to be happy, namely, a good and rational life. But if those hungry for mere things go into public life, thinking that the good life is theirs for the taking, then the well-governed city is impossible. There, leadership is something fought over and this kind of civil and domestic war destroys the people and the rest of the city as well.

That’s very true!

***************** Translated by Monica Davis, 2000, from the references:

Greek text based on the following:

Plato. Platonis Opera , ed. John Burnet. Oxford University Press, 1903.

Plato. The Republic . Trans. G.M.A. Grube. 2nd ed./ rev. by C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1992.

Plato. The Republic of Plato . Trans. Alan Bloom. 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books, 1991.

Essay about Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

How it works

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave presents an extended metaphor drawing upon philosophical issues such as epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, enlightenment, education, religion, and politics. As we journey through Plato’s story we come to understand the representations behind it. The basic premise here is showing us the relation between education and truth. True knowledge is hidden and humans are easily misinterpreting information presented when under certain conditions that don’t allow them to expand their perspective or question the nature of reality and truth.

He argues that the prisoners (and other humans alike) are miseducated or ignorant, and in order to attain true objective knowledge we must gain it through philosophical reasoning.

The process of progressing out of the cave is about enlightenment toward true understanding. The process in his story is depicted as one of struggle and discomfort. It requires assistance and sometimes force to progress. Plato is implying that there will always be struggle when confronting truth and that it is not easy to become educated. The prisoner leaving the cave is questioning his beliefs, where the prisoners still chained are accepting their beliefs and living in ignorance, even when faced with opposition of the freed prisoner trying to help them. Here Plato implies that not everyone has the capacity to think philosophically, that there are some people that are not willing to face their beliefs and are comfortable living in ignorance.

When people live in ignorance and stay in a limited perspective, they become more prone to being manipulated and used. Many believe Plato is discussing the underlying struggle between society and government. The cave represents the limited ‘world’ controlled by government and the shadows on the wall symbolize an illusion of truth given to us by our government. This way, the government has more power and more money in the process. Plato’s ideal society contains proper functions and intentions from a philosophical ruler. This means that philosophers who have acquired ethical virtuous knowledge are the best to lead society so that it will function at its best, and that these philosophers have the best intentions because they are based from knowledge and not opinion. He argues that the greatest rulers for society are ones that are based from education, experience, and objective truth.

Some may argue that Plato’s ideals about government are unrealistic because we live in a world of duality (good and evil) and that we may never have a perfect functioning society, that triumphs over evil (ignorance). There will always be corruption and even if we may attain a society and government similar to one that Plato describes, would it last? This is a logical point to bring up, there is constant shifting in the world between good and evil, but Plato’s main intention with this thought experiment is to show the struggle between good and evil and that we should always strive toward being good even if it is a struggle. Even if we cannot form a perfect society based solely on virtue and ethics, we should always try to improve ourselves, society and other people around us. Allegory of the Cave provides hope of transcending from ignorance and reaching for the truth.

For Plato, education is a transformative process, it is a struggle and it changes your existence as a whole. This is the transition from darkness (the cave/ignorance) to light (outside of the cave/truth). He believed that everyone is capable of learning only if they have the will to learn, the desire. If the prisoner did not question the shadows on the wall (his reality/beliefs) he would have never ascended unto knowledge. With the help of a teacher he was able to understand reality and progress his character toward truth.

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• Scriptwriting

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave — Summary & Meaning Explained

P lato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is one of the most well-known philosophical concepts in history. As such, it only makes sense that numerous filmmakers would try to incorporate this philosophy into their movies. But what exactly is it? And why does it work so well in the context of filmmaking? We’ll look at this concept as well as several films that have incorporated it excellently. It’s time to find the sun.

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Plato's Cave Explained

Entering plato's allegorical cave.

Virtually all philosophy descends from Plato. And this particular piece of philosophy routinely comes up in discussions of how humans perceive reality and whether there is any higher truth to existence.

This is a concept pondered and considered for thousands of years and we're still nowhere closer to an answer. Naturally, this is great material for literature and film. We'll go through this allegory in detail with examples from movies that were clearly inspired by Plato's cave.

First things first — what is Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"?

Allegory of the Cave Meaning

What is the allegory of the cave.

Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" is a concept devised by the philosopher to ruminate on the nature of belief versus knowledge. The allegory begins with prisoners who have lived their entire lives chained inside a cave. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners are people carrying puppets or other objects. These cast shadows on the opposite wall. The prisoners watch these shadows, believing this to be their reality as they've known nothing else.

Plato posits that one prisoner could become free. He finally sees the fire and realizes the shadows are fake. This prisoner could escape from the cave and discover there is a whole new world outside they were previously unaware of.

This prisoner would believe the outside world is so much more real than that in the cave. He would try to return to free the other prisoners. Upon his return, he is blinded because his eyes are not accustomed to actual sunlight. The chained prisoners would see this blindness and believe they will be harmed if they try to leave the cave.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Examples in Film

• The Truman Show
• The Conformist

Despite being centuries old, the allegory is appropriate for filmmaking. After all, the audience watches images on a screen. We’re meant to believe it to be real, but we know it’s false. Only when we step out of the theater back into reality can we take what we’ve learned in the cinema and apply it to our lives.

But don't just take our Allegory of the Cave summary at face value. You would greatly benefit from reading it yourself.

ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SYMBOLISM

Read the allegory of the cave.

It may be thousands of years old, but there’s still much to learn from this text. You can download the PDF below to read about Plato’s cave in all of its details.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave PDF Download

Click to view and download the entire Plato's Allegory of the Cave  PDF below.

Click above to  download Plato's Allegory of the Cave PDF

The text is formatted as a dialogue between Plato and his brother, Glaucon. Within this conversation, they discuss what would happen if a group of prisoners realized the world they were watching was a lie.

Plato uses this allegory as a way to discuss the deceptive appearances of things we see in the real world. Through it, he encourages people to instead focus on the abstract realm of ideas.

What is Plato's Allegory of the Cave?

In a literal sense, a movie is just a series of images. But digging deeper, they present unique ideas and themes that we can take with us into the real world.

Numerous movies utilize this concept in their plots and themes. You can likely think of plenty of films where a character believes one reality and then becomes exposed to another, greater reality and is never the same. 

Let’s examine some very different films and how they all utilize this allegory. You can see how universal it is and how it can be applied to your own film.

PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SUMMARY

Use the allegory to emphasize theme.

There’s something inherently haunting about Plato’s allegory. A person has to recognize everything up until this point in their life has been a lie. What if when they finally recognize the lie, they resort to violent revolution?

That’s the question Jordan Peele poses in his film Us , which is one of the most blatant Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" examples in film history.

Watch this terrifying scene and see what similarities you can find between it and Plato's cave.

Meet the Tethered  •  Us

The scene holds many direct correlations with the "Allegory of the Cave." For starters, the tethered family stands in front of a fire, casting shadows on the room. This is a direct reference to the fire in the cave, casting shadows for the prisoners to view.

Red also makes several references to shadows. Specifically, how they are the shadows to the regular family. They have not been “real” for so long, but now, they have come to take their place in the sun.

Us could almost be viewed as an alternative version of the allegory. Namely, what if the prisoner returned to the cave and all of the other prisoners wanted to follow him out?

They saw other people living normal lives, making them angry.

This thought experiment plays nicely into the film’s themes of income inequality and how once the lower classes realize how they have been kept down, they will revolt.

There’s an interesting passage within Plato’s cave allegory about descending back down into the cave that we wouldn’t be surprised if it directly influenced Peele's film.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Summary  •   Read the Full Allegory

Plato suggests that since the prisoners would likely react violently to someone coming back and telling them of the outside world that it wouldn’t be in one’s best interest to descend back into the cave.

It’s an intriguing concept in the context of a film about people who literally live underground and are prevented from living a rich, full life. Peele took an ancient concept and applied it to real world scenarios, proving there is still much society can learn from Plato’s cave.

PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE MEANING

Use the allegory to inspire hope.

In Us, knowledge is ultimately society’s downfall. The tethered hold hands in the sun, leaving destruction in their wake. It's a somewhat pessimistic view of the cave allegory, but what about a story that looked on it more positively.

Enter The Lego Movie . While there are a lot of zany hijinks throughout the film, we learn at the climax that none of this was happening from the Lego figures’ own accords. Emmet discovers they were just being played with by a boy and his dad.

Emmet vs. Lord President Business  •  The Lego Movie

The idea that there is something out there beyond our understanding is often framed as horrific. Movies like Us and The Matrix   portray a group of people being subdued against their will while a dark truth remains hidden to most.

But knowledge doesn’t have to be scary. It can open whole new worlds and allow us to see existence from a different perspective. It’s this journey outside of Plato's cave that allows Emmet to finally communicate with Lord President Business and save the day.

Emmet starts the movie with the belief he is the Special. This is the prisoner who can only see shadows. The prisoner believes this is real.

By the end, Emmet recognizes that everyone is the Special. His beliefs have been replaced by knowledge. It’s a pretty philosophically-rich film for something based around toys.

PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE EXAMPLES

Use the allegory to affect change.

There’s an interesting aspect to the "Allegory of the Cave" that’s too often overlooked. It’s the third part of the story where the freed prisoner returns to the cave. But this time, the darkness blinds him since he’s become accustomed to the sunlight.

It’s the belief that once we’ve accumulated knowledge, we can’t go back to ignorance. For our last example, let’s look at The Truman Show .

It’s one of the clearest adaptations of the allegory. Truman Burbank lives in a false reality where people film his life to be broadcast into millions of households. Until one day, he discovers it’s all a lie.

A Light Falls  •  The Truman Show

It’s a simple act: a light falling from the sky. But Truman can’t let it go. He now possesses the knowledge that something isn’t right in this world, and he needs to investigate.

While The Truman Show is one of the most direct adaptations of the "Allegory of the Cave," many films, knowingly or not, utilize this idea. A character begins in a state of ignorance. They must then traverse out of this state into a field of knowledge.

Ultimately, Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" meaning is to describe what it means to grow as a person, and any screenwriter can learn from that.

Talking to the Creator  •  The Truman Show

Plato’s cave, how to use allegory in your writing.

Much like The Hero’s Journey , as defined by Joseph Campbell, drawing inspiration from the "Allegory of the Cave" is often intrinsically linked to storytelling. Whether you like it or not, you’ve likely written pieces at least partially inspired from the allegory because you’ve watched so many films utilize this template.

It’s an ever-present allegory you’ve known about for a long time even if you didn’t know its name.

What is Real?  •  Wisecrack

So for you screenwriters, consider this allegory of Plato's cave another tool in your belt you can call in when you need some help figuring out what your characters should do next.

Why do they want to escape their state of ignorance? What do they find on the outside? What would happen if they returned? How might others react to the knowledge the character now possesses? All of these questions can help you create stronger, more compelling scripts.

Allegory defined with examples

The "Allegory of the Cave" is but one allegory filmmakers draw upon in their stories. There are plenty of others out there, and filmmakers should consider how impactful a movie can become when it assumes the label of an allegory. Read through our definition and examples to see how other filmmakers have handled this concept.

Up Next: Allegory explained →

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