The Allegory Of The Cave Is A Dialogue On Nature, By The Very Influent

The Allegory of the Cave is a dialogue on nature, by the very influential Greek philosopher Plato. His life was headed toward politics until his mentor Socrates was executed. Plato then abandoned politics and turned to writing and teaching philosophy. I believe his philosophies play a more significant and meaningful role than materialism in our modern society. He believes that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only an illusion of true reality. The cave represents the system or government, in this cave lives prisoner chained like animal to the wall with no mobility and deprived of light. This allegory shows why the truth is so hard to accept and why once the prisoners are shown the truth, they refuse to accept it and revert back to their old ways." The glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen shadows; and then someone tells them what they had seen before was an illusion, they will not understand."(278) Plato believed that the prisoners may never be able to leave the darkness, the only truth they have ever know, is the truth they can never escape. Even though Bacon believed in induction, facts and specific evidence, he still agrees with Plato's ideas of human's reality is distorted because of misinterpretation. "The human understanding is like a false mirrior, which, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it."(382) On the other hand Plato believed in deduction, a study of an assumption and then a conclusion. I compare our society to Plato's allegory because we too are living in a shadow. That shadow is created by the actions and beliefs of Americans today. However most people either don't agree or can't understand this reasoning because each person has their own limited knowledge and that becomes their only reality. Every day I see my country be run solely on the behalf money. This materialistic belief over powers those of morals and values. Therefore, I belief the religious and spiritual, people in our country get neglected, and their values get placed on a back burner. I do not agree or approve of the way America is ran. I believe in the ideas and experiences of enlightenment of Plato's philosophy. This does not motivates me to feel privileged to be an American, and ashamed to live in our cold materialistic society. WORKS CITED Plato "The Allegory of the Cave". Lee A. Jacobus. Benjamin Jowett. Boston. Bedford Books. 1998 (278) Bacon, Francis "The Four Idols". Lee A. Jacobus. Novum Organum(From) Boston. Bedford Books. 1998 (382)