We live in a CAVE? (Plato's allegory)

(Bluntgard) "Standup Philosopher" or "Bullsh*t Artist" (Mel Brooks' History of the World, Pt. 1

(After Skool) The profound meaning of Plato's allegory of the cave

The Allegory of the Cave

The unexamined life is not worth living.

The allegory of the cave is presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a, Book VII) to compare "the effect of education (παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature."

It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates. It is narrated by Socrates. The allegory is presented after the analogy of the Sun (508b–509c) and the analogy of the divided line (509d–511e).

In the allegory, Plato describes people who have spent their whole lives chained by their necks and ankles in front of an inner wall [a screen] with a view of the empty outer wall of the cave.

(T&H) Shut up, Buddhist Caveman Jim Carrey, or we will replace you

Allegory of Fortune

They observe the shadows [images] projected onto the outer wall by objects carried behind the inner wall by people who are invisible to the chained "prisoners" and who walk along the inner wall with a fire behind them, creating the shadows on the outer wall in front of the shackled prisoners.

The "sign bearers" pronounce the names of the objects, the sounds of which are reflected near the shadows and are understood by the prisoners as if they were coming from the shadows themselves.

Allegory of Queen Elizabeth

The only reality for the prisoners of the cave are those shadows and sounds, which are of course only inaccurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent distorted and blurred copies of reality we perceive through our senses, while the objects under the Sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason [or directly through refined intuition].

Three higher levels exist: (1) natural science; (2) deductive mathematics, geometry, and logic; and (3) the theory of forms.

(T&H) Shut up, Caveman Beatle George Harrison, or we will erase you.

Allegory of the Recognition

Socrates explains how a "philosopher" is like a prisoner now freed from the cave who comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not the direct source of the images seen.

A philosopher aims to understand and perceive the higher levels of reality. However, the other inmates of the cave do not even want to escape their chains or leave their prison, for they know no better life [1].

Socrates remarks that this allegory can be paired with previous writings, namely the analogy of the Sun and the analogy of the divided line. More

The "Comic Philosopher" (Mel Brooks' History of the World, Pt. 1)

• After Skool; Jim Carrey, George Harrison (T&H Inspiration and Motivation); Philosopher Mel Brooks; CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly