Platos Message About Education

Platos Message About Education

Aspen Carpentier
University of New Mexico
Ms. Alapin
English 120-095

Platos Message About Education

Platos Message About Education

Platos writing and the point that he is trying to make depends on your view of education.
Is education one having a college degree and making a lot of money. Or is ones view on
education more related to their experiences in life, or even a combination of both. Because many
how different views on what education is it might effect their opinion on what Plato is saying
about education. In Platos book The Republic book 7, he is having this conversation with his
brother and they start to talk about this idea of people being trapped, and not being able to
experience life completely. Plato was a very respected and intelligent Greek philosopher
and mathematician. He is known for the basic idea of Western philosophy and science. Plato was
a teacher of Aristotle and was a student of Socrates. He had many writings that expressed
justice, beauty and equality, and also discussed topics including aesthetics, political philosophy,
theology, cosmology, and the philosophy of language (Plato Biography, 2015).
Society has made this path that they think everyone should follow. As well as previous
generations, they have also given us this idea of certain ethics, norms, and culture that we should
follow, and not many people question it. They think that everyone needs to attend school, get a
college degree, and have a specific job that is useful in society. Plato is trying to explain this
situation when he talks about the prisoners in the cave. The prisoners are chained from neck
to ankles, so that they are unable to move around or turn their heads to see whats behind
them. This is symboling society and their idea of just following the normal and not being able to

Platos Message About Education

educate themselves beyond the average. By this he is explaining the thought that society has put
into our heads that theres only one right way to do things (Dogra 2010). Plato then says Light
comes to them from a fire burning at a distance above and behind them. Between the fire and the
prisoners, higher than they, imagine a road with a low wall build alongside, like the screen set in
front of puppeteers, over which they show their puppets (Plato pg. 175). When Plato explains
this situation of the prisoners he is comparing the way previous generations and society in a way
hide behind this screen and give false ideas of what is really behind this screen or wall.
In the story one prisoner is let go and taken out of the cave. Plato specifies this reaction
the prisoner has when he is taken out of the cave and has the bright light from the sun shining on
him. Plato says on page 176 Suppose someone forcibly dragged him out of there, up that steep,
rugged incline, and didnt let go till hed dragged him clear out to the light of the sun. Wouldnt
such treatment pain and outrage him, and the beams fill his eyes and make him unable to see any
of the things that now are called true? When Plato talks about this person that drags the prisoner
out of the cave he is talking about this willingness inside ourselves that wants to see what is
going on in the world that we are missing out on. When that prisoner is finally taken out into the
real world Plato says how surprising the truth could be and may make someone not want
to believe or except what is the real world. Many of us are so ignorant and blind on what there
really is in this world to experience and that can make one very uneducated. Theres a point in
time where you have to get away from this idea where you have to do everything the way
previous generations and society have showed us to, to truly gain knowledge and get a true

Platos Message About Education

education. That one prisoner that was released from the group represents that one person who
thinks there is something else outside of what they have seen. By the prisoner being released out
of the cave it represents a human being able to experience life, get an education, and see what the
world really is. The ones remaining in the cave represent people who are scared to experience the
world and get an education. They are also the ones that do not want to go against their culture
and beliefs most likely influenced by previous generations and even societies views (Dogra
2010).
Many people are not subjective to change or do not want to face the fact of reality, and I
think those are the people that Plato is labeling as the prisoners in the cave. They were born in
this cave where reality to them is darkness, shadows, and echoes. When real reality is sun light,
real people, animals, and objects, and real noises that make sense. When he explains the cave he
is trying to make it be this false reality that many people are part of, and are never able to get out
unless they overcome their ignorance by seeing what is really reality no matter how bad or hard
it may be. In book 7 of The Republic Plato and Glaucon are having a conversation about the
prisoner that would be released. Plato asks Glaucon If he went down and sat down in his old
place, wouldnt darkness fill his eyes after suddenly coming in from the sun? Glaucon
responds Completely (Plato pg 177). By him bringing up the prisoner having to go back and
see the different of what he has discovered and what he grew up in, it would completely confuse
the man. If the prisoner went back into the place it came from it would be able to see both sides
and wonder which one is reality and which one should be followed. This happens in the world

Platos Message About Education

today. Many grow up in a very structured, cultural, and religious family. Many may feel like they
are chained from neck to ankles because they know there is something else in life
but cant experience it and become truly educated. When they finally get to experience reality,
and they go back to where they came from they can be completely blinded by what they grew up
in.

Platos Message About Education

References

Dogra, Aastha (September 14, 2010). Allegory of the Cave Summary.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/allegory-of-the-cave-summary.html

Plato. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 09:23, Feb 13, 2015, from
http://www.biography.com/people/plato-9442588.
Plato. The Republic. Allan Bloom, 1968. Print.