The Allegory of the Cave

1. Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc., without (so far as
they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms.
2. The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this.
3. In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a
cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a
fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk.
The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall
of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind
them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do
not see. Here is an illustration of Plato’s Cave:

From Great Dialogues of Plato (Warmington and Rouse, eds.) New York, Signet Classics: 1999. p. 316.

4. Such prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the things they see on
the wall (the shadows) were real; they would know nothing of the real causes of the shadows.
5. So when the prisoners talk, what are they talking about? If an object (a book, let us say) is
carried past behind them, and it casts a shadow on the wall, and a prisoner says “I see a
book,” what is he talking about?

He thinks he is talking about a book, but he is really talking about a shadow. But he uses the
word “book.” What does that refer to?

6. Plato gives his answer at line (515b2). The text here has puzzled many editors, and it has
been frequently emended. The translation in Grube/Reeve gets the point correctly:

“And 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?”

7. Plato’s point is that the prisoners would be mistaken. For they would be taking the terms in
their language to refer to the shadows that pass before their eyes, rather than (as is correct,
in Plato’s view) to the real things that cast the shadows.

If a prisoner says “That’s a book” he thinks that the word “book” refers to the very thing he is
looking at. But he would be wrong. He’s only looking at a shadow. The real referent of the
word “book” he cannot see. To see it, he would have to turn his head around.

8. Plato’s point: the general terms of our language are not “names” of the physical objects that
we can see. They are actually names of things that we cannot see, things that we can only
grasp with the mind.
9. When the prisoners are released, they can turn their heads and see the real objects. Then
they realize their error. What can we do that is analogous to turning our heads and seeing the
causes of the shadows? We can come to grasp the Forms with our minds.
10. Plato’s aim in the Republic is to describe what is necessary for us to achieve this reflective
understanding. But even without it, it remains true that our very ability to think and to speak
depends on the Forms. For the terms of the language we use get their meaning by “naming”
the Forms that the objects we perceive participate in.
11. The prisoners may learn what a book is by their experience with shadows of books. But they
would be mistaken if they thought that the word “book” refers to something that any of them
has ever seen.
 Likewise, we may acquire concepts by our perceptual experience of physical objects. But we
would be mistaken if we thought that the concepts that we grasp were on the same level as
the things we perceive.
The ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ is a theory put forward by Plato, concerning human perception. Plato claimed that knowledge
gained through the senses is no more than opinion and that, in order to have real knowledge, we must gain it through
philosophical reasoning.
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‘The Allegory of the Cave’ by Plato
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth and
people who really do see the truth. It goes like this:
The Cave
 Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to some rocks, their arms and legs are
bound and their head is tied so that they cannot look at anything but the stonewall in front of them.
 These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the cave.
 Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway.
 People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their head including; animals, plants, wood
and stone.
The Shadows
 So, imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything behind or to the side of you – you
must look at the wall in front of you.
 When people walk along the walkway, you can see shadows of the objects they are carrying cast on to the wall.
 If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that the shadows of objects were ‘real.’
The Game
 Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which shadow would appear next.
 If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as clever and say that he were a
master of nature.
The Escape
 One of the prisoners then escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave.
 He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be real.
 As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former view of reality was wrong.
 He begins to understand his new world, and sees that the Sun is the source of life and goes on an intellectual
journey where he discovers beauty and meaning
 He see’s that his former life, and the guessing game they played is useless.
The Return
 The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings.
 They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.
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The Cave
 In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in
the world – empirical evidence. The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of
misunderstanding.

The Shadows
 The Shadows represent the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence ensures knowledge. If you
believe that what you see should be taken as truth, then you are merely seeing a shadow of the truth. In Plato’s
opinion you are a ‘pleb’ if you believe this (their insult for those who are not Philosophers)!
The Game
 The Game represents how people believe that one person can be a ‘master’ when they have knowledge of the
empirical world. Plato is demonstrating that this master does not actually know any truth, and suggesting that it
is ridiculous to admire someone like this.
The Escape
 The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside of the
senses.
 The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge
 His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey when finding truth and wisdom
The Return
 The other prisoners reaction to the escapee returning represents that people are scared of knowing
philosophical truths and do not trust philosophers.
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The allegory of the cave is one of the most famous passages in the history of Western philosophy. It is a short excerpt
from the beginning of book seven of Plato’s book, The Republic. Plato tells the allegory in the context of education; it is
ultimately about the nature of philosophical education, and it offers an insight into Plato’s view of education. Socrates is
the main character in The Republic, and he tells the allegory of the cave to Glaucon, who is one of Plato’s brothers.
In book seven of The Republic, Socrates tells Glaucon, who is his interlocutor, to imagine a group of prisoners who have
been chained since they were children in an underground cave. Their hands, feet, and necks are chained so that they are
unable to move. All they can see in front of them, for their entire lives, is the back wall of the cave. Socrates says:
Some way off, behind and higher up, a fire is burning, and between the fire and the prisoners above them runs a road, in
front of which a curtain wall has been built, like a screen at puppet shows between the operators and their audience,
above which they show their puppets.[1]
So, there are men, who pass by the walkway and carry objects made of stone behind the curtain-wall, and they make
sounds to go along with the objects. These objects are projected onto the back wall of the cave for the prisoners to see.
The prisoners come up with names for the objects; they are interpreting their world intelligible to them. Hence, it is
almost as though the prisoners are watching a puppet show for their entire lives. This is what the prisoners think is real
because this is all they have ever experienced; reality for them is a puppet show on the wall of a cave, created by
shadows of objects and figures.
Socrates goes on to say that one of the prisoners somehow breaks free of those chains. Then he is forced to turn around
and look at the fire, which represents enlightenment; recognising your ignorance. The light of the fire hurts his eyes and
makes him immediately want to turn back around and “retreat to the things which he could see properly, which he
would think really clearer than the things being shown him.”[2] In other words, Socrates is stating that the prisoner does
not want to progress in the way he sees things, and his understanding of reality. However, after his eyes adjust to the
firelight, reluctantly and with great difficulty he is forced to progress out of the cave and into the sunlight, which is a
painful process; this represents a different state of understanding. Plato uses light as a metaphor for our understanding,
and our ability to conceive of the truth. So the prisoner progressed past the realm of the firelight, and now into the
realm of sunlight. The first thing he would find easiest to look at is the shadows, and then reflections of men and objects
in the water, and then finally the prisoner is able to look at the sun itself which he realises is the source of the
reflections. When he finally looks at the sun he sees the truth of everything and begins to feel sorry for his fellow
prisoner’s who are still stuck in the cave. So, he goes back into the cave and tries to tell his fellow prisoners the truth
about reality, but the prisoners think that he is dangerous because he has come back and upset everyone’s conformist
opinion about things. The prisoners do not want to be free because they are comfortable in their own ignorance, and
they are hostile to people who want to give them more information. Therefore, Plato is suggesting that “your
philosophical journey sometimes may lead your thinking in directions that society does not support.”[3]
The allegory of the cave is an extended metaphor and it provides an insight into Plato’s view of education. The people in
the cave represent us as a society, and Plato is suggesting that we are the prisoners in the cave looking at only the
shadows of things. However, the cave also represents the state of humans; we all begin in the cave.[4] According to
Ronald Nash, Plato believed that:
Like the prisoners chained in the cave, each human being perceives a physical world that is but a poor imitation of a more
real world. But every so often, one of the prisoners gets free from the shackles of sense experience, turns around, and
sees the light![5]
Plato uses the cave to symbolise a physical world; a world in which things are not always what they seem to be, and
there is a lot more to it than people think there is. The outside world is represented as the world of ideas, thoughts, and
reality — by the world of Ideas, Plato is talking about the non-physical forms, and that these non-physical forms
represent a higher, more accurate reality. In other words, “according to Plato, our senses are only picking up shadows of
the true reality, the reality of forms or ideas. This reality can only be accurately discerned through reason, not the
physical senses.”[6]
The process of progressing out of the cave is about getting educated and it is a difficult process; in fact it requires
assistance and sometimes force. Here Plato is implying that when getting an education there is a struggle involved. He is
telling us about our struggle to see the truth, and to be critical thinkers. We want to resist; ignorance is bliss in many
ways because knowing the truth can be a painful experience, so in some ways it is easier to be ignorant. The person who
is leaving the cave is questioning his beliefs, whereas the people in the cave just accepted what they were shown, they
did not think about or question it; in other words, they are passive observers.
The allegory of the cave shows us the relation between education and truth. For Plato, the essential function of
education is not to give us truths but to dispose us towards the truth. But not all education need necessarily be about
the truth. It can be seen as capacity building:
One purpose of the allegory of the cave is to show that there are different levels of human awareness, ascending from
sense perception to a rational knowledge of the Forms and eventually to the highest knowledge of all, the knowledge of
the Good.[7]
According to Plato, education is seeing things differently. Therefore, as our conception of truth changes, so will our
education. He believed that we all have the capacity to learn but not everyone has the desire to learn; desire and
resistance are important in education because you have to be willing to learn the truth although it will be hard to accept
at times.
The people who were carrying the objects across the walkway, which projected shadows on the wall, represent the
authority of today, such as the government, religious leaders, teachers, the media etc. — they influence the opinions of
people and determine the beliefs and attitudes of people in society. The person who forced the prisoner out of the cave
and guided them could be interpreted as a teacher. Socrates compares a teacher to a midwife, for example, a midwife
does not give birth for the person, however a midwife has seen a lot of people give birth and coached a lot of people
through it, similarly, a teacher does not get an education for the student, but can guide students towards the truth:
Socrates as a teacher is a “midwife” who does not himself bring forth truth, but rather by means of his questioning
causes the learner to rationally apprehend, or give birth to, as it were, truths that were already gestating within.[8]
So, the teacher in the allegory of the cave guided the prisoner from the darkness and into the light (light represents
truth); education involves seeing the truth. Plato believed that you have to desire to learn new things; if people do not
desire to learn what is true, then you cannot force them to learn. The prisoner had to have the desire and persistence to
learn. In the same way, students themselves have to be active — nobody can get an education for you; you have to get it
for yourself, and this will sometimes be a painful process. A teacher can fill students with facts, but it is up to the student
to understand them. According to Plato, a teacher’s job is to lead you somewhere, and to make you question your
beliefs so that you can come to your own conclusion about things; thus, education is a personal journey.
Plato makes clear that education where students are passively receiving knowledge from professors is wrong. What the
allegory has shown is that:
[…] the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from
darkness to light without the whole body, so to the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul
be turned from the world of becoming into that of being […][9]
Plato says that philosophical education requires a reorientation of the whole self; it is a transformative experience. He
believed that education is not just a matter of changing ideas or changing some practices, it is a process that transforms
ones entire life because it involves the turning around of the soul. Education is the movement of the self, the
transformation of the self. For example, in order for the prisoners to learn they had to not only turn their head around,
but also turn their whole body around which included their soul, and passions in their mind, to educate themselves.
Therefore, education is a complete transformation of ones value system; “it requires a ‘turning around’ and ‘ascent’ of
the soul — what we might call a spiritual awakening, or the finding and following of a spiritual path.”[10] By this, Plato
means seeing the world in a different way, in the correct way.

In conclusion, Plato appears to be suggesting that we need to force ourselves to want to learn about the truth. Seeking
knowledge is not an easy journey; it is a struggle, and once you see the world differently you cannot go back. For
example, when the prisoner turned around he realised that the shadows on the wall were less real than the objects in
the back that were casting the shadows; what he thought was real all his life was merely an illusion. If the prisoner did
not question his beliefs about the shadows on the wall, he would never have discovered the truth. Hence, Plato believes
that critical thinking is vital in education. When you try to tell others about the truth, they will not always accept it, as
people are often happy in their ignorance. In the allegory of the cave the prisoner had to be forced to learn at times; for
Plato, education in any form requires resistance, and with resistance comes force.
In a way Plato manipulates the reader as he implies that we are prisoners, however we believe that we are not
prisoners — this makes us want to learn and search for the truth. It is easier not to challenge ourselves, and not be
challenged by others. It is easier to just sit there and watch the puppet show, and not question your beliefs. It is difficult
to turn around, however the rewards of making that journey are great, as the allegory of the cave tells us.
For Plato, education is personal and it is the transition from darkness to light, where light represents knowledge and
truth. He believed that everyone is capable of learning, but it is down to whether the person desires to learn or not. The
people in the cave needed to desire an education with their whole body and soul; thus, education is the formation of
character, which involves the turning around of the soul.