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There is no denying the fact that Ancient Greek’s philosophers brought a lot of useful and sufficient ideas, thoughts, and decisions to the people’s society. Plato was one of the brightest mind of that time. His works inspire people from all over the world. Moreover, his scientific approach and writing manner help many students to understand the core of philosophy, the structure, and basics of our society. Therefore, in order to see and evaluate several important issues such as good and justice, the Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is presented in this paper.
Plato wrote this allegory; however, the main characters there are Socrates and Glaukon. Reader can observe the dialog between them where Socrates has the leading role. He described the picture of the metaphorical world in order to explain his point of view to one of his students. Philosopher asked to imagine the cave with people that are like prisoners there. They cannot move from their places because their arms, legs, and neck are shackled. There is also a fire behind them, but these people are not be able to see it. All information that is situated in their area of view are the shadows on the wall that are projections of different things. Because cave dwellers can operate with only this knowledge, their entire worldview builds on it. Actually, Plato used this metaphor in order to explain how people see, feel, and understand the world by using just their senses and feelings.
Then Socrates asked Glaukon to imagine that one of these prisoners is completely free now and he can go out of this cave in order to see the real sun and natural forms and shapes of things. In this case, at first this person will be blind because of the light of the sun. However, after transition period this prisoner will see the real matter of the world. Plato created this example in order to explain his conviction that each person should pass the way from uneducated one to the philosopher in order to understand the truth and to lead others. After that author created new picture. Thus, Socrates asked Glaukon to imagine that this prisoner came back to the cave in order to explain the real matter of things to other people there. However, after the light of the true sun this person is blind in the dark of the cave. Moreover, ex-prisoner’s new beliefs are not acceptable by the cave dwellers and this situation can be very dangerous. Therefore, the main task for this person is to find right words in order to explain to others the truth in their language.
Actually, this allegory highlights the issues of good and justice from the main part of Plato’s Republic. For instance, the previous passage included the main principle of Plato’s good. He claimed that it is the true reason of everything and the understanding the cause of things that cannot be changed because of the somebody’s point of view (Shim 515-535). Moreover, the good also lies in the serving to others in order to explain them the real position of things. According to this belief, serving to others for educating them and creating better society is the cost of true good (Conti and Nolan III 166-186).
This allegory has also a huge importance to the understanding of the justice in Plato’s Republic. Author claimed that people could not see the real justice before they understand the real matter of things. Prisoners in the cave see only shadows of the objects; therefore, their interpretations and outputs cannot be fair and equitable (Corbet). Thus, such situation has nothing in common with the justice. However, those who realized the truth are credible for this assignment. Thus, based on this allegory, justice in Plato’s Republic can be performed by philosophers because they have enough intelligence and knowledge in order to judge is the particular situation is right or wrong.
Works Cited
Conti, Norman and James J. Nolan III. "Policing the Platonic Cave: Ethics and Efficacy in Police Training". Policing and Society 15.2 (2005): 166-186. Web.
Corbet, William R. "An Allegory of the Cave and the Desert Palace". Louisiana State University Law Center (2005). Faculty Scholarship. Paper 42. http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/faculty_scholarship/42
Shim, Seung Hwan. "A Philosophical Investigation of the Role of Teachers: A Synthesis of Plato, Confucius, Buber, and Freire". Teaching and Teacher Education 24.3 (2008): 515-535. Web.
