[Guibu]1
Renzo Guibu
Dr. Jillian Canode
Introduction to Philosophy
Aug 22 2014
Essay “The Allegory of the Cave”
The Allegory of the cave a work presented by Plato in his work The Republic can be
interpreted in several ways. It starts with prisoners facing a stone wall inside a cave being able to
see only the shadows from people and things passing between the cave and the sunlight. Then a
prisoner is able to get out of the cave and see a whole “new” world. Finally the prisoner goes back to
the cave to explain this new world to the other prisoners and they don´t believe him the prisoners
that stayed in the cave believe he is stupid.
I believe that the main things Plato was trying show us is the ignorance and fear the we the
humans process. First of all, all the prisoners were facing at the wall only being able to watch the
shadows passing by and the prisoner that guessed which shadow came was next was considered
as the wisest in there. Pretending to know which shadows comes next without knowing what is a
shadow or what is causing the shadows is not only pretentious but ignorant because you talk to
much knowing little. Then a prisoner managed to get out of the cave and observe all a new world, he
finally understands what causes the shadows. Through the process of going out of the cave Plato
