Allegory of the Cave, Essay Example

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave he likens a cave to human ignorance to the Forms. The people in the cave are likened to prisoners who cannot understand the Forms and who only stare at walls and cannot see real forms just shadows of forms (thereby substituting reality for shadows). The fire perpetuates the apocryphal forms/shadows on the wall. One prisoner is compelled to stand and see the fire and objects/shadows for what they represent and then leaves the cave and witnesses the real world. This escape represents coming to an understanding of reasoning and the true nature of things.

Plato said that tyranny happened with autocratic power, or when a person is given complete power/control over a populace. Plato says that the tyrant should kill his minister to consolidate his power or in other words to what he thinks is best which shows that they have power.

Socrates offers three proofs for a philosopher to live a happier life than a tyrant: that a just man is wise/good, injustice gives a person imbalance so, and virtue is found in purpose. Since Socrates doesn’t define what justice is, the argument is fallible.

Plato splits the soul into three parts: logic, high-spirited, and appetitive. The appetitive part of the soul is responsible for pleasures and appetite and represents justice. The high-spirited part of the soul represents anger or injustice and represents a city’s defenses and the order within the city. The logic part of the soul responsible for money.