Shadows on the cave wall

False vision of the truth
The shadows represent a false vision of the truth, an illusion about reality. Because the prisoners have never seen the true objects that exist in the world, the objects which are casting those shadows, they believe the shadows are all that is.
What do the shadows represent in Plato's Allegory of the Cave?

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The Allegory of the Cave, or Plato's Cave, is an allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a) to compare "the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates, narrated by the latter. The allegory is presented after the analogy of the sun (508b–509c) and the analogy of the divided line (509d–511e).

In the allegory "The Cave", Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners' reality, but are not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent the fragment of reality that we can normally perceive through our senses, while the objects under the sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason. Three higher levels exist: the natural sciences; mathematics, geometry, and deductive logic; and the theory of forms.

Socrates explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are actually 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 desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life.

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


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Plato’s metaphor of shadows in the analogy of the cave
EMOTIONS by admin
In the analogy of the cave Plato puts forward the theory that a group of men (representing the vast majority of mankind) are captured at birth and chained in a cave, so they can only look at a wall.

Behind them, the captors build a fire and then walk in front of the fire on a road running perpendicular within the cave so that shadows are cast on that wall.The captives can only see the shadows on the wall, for their heads are fastened so that they cannot turn around. The captors carry by various birds, animals and objects, making noises whilst doing this, and the prisoners think the shadows are making these sounds, and start giving names to the different shadows, believing they are the real objects, for they know nothing of the real objects.The captives compete with one another, and try to remember the order in which the shadows will appear, These shadows represent the illusion of the particulars; they represent everyday life, and the way most people see it; at face value and not truly understanding the meaning of it, nor in fact trying to, the cave is the physical, changing world that we accept at face value everyday.A freed prisoner would be able to see beyond this illusion, after adjusting his eyes to the brighter light, as he can see the real objects being cast in front of the fire to make shadows, however he still would not understand their significance, although he would be able to see past the face value of the shadows, even if he did not accept the reality of the objects, as he would see that the shadows are cast from something, whether he believes the shadows are reality or the objects themselves, he can still see a degree deeper into the situation than those unable to see the fire, he has beliefs of common sense, although not a knowledge.If he were to be taken further up the cave, and into the sunlight, his eyes would be blinded immediately, however, as he adjusted, he would be able to slowly see the real world, this is the world of forms.

Forms are the objects that are portrayed in front of the fire in the cave, however, in the cave, they are in the physical world, and in the light of the fire, it would be impossible for him to understand their meaning. First he would see their shadows and reflections in the light of the sun; Plato would say at this point he is using reason, and is beginning to understand the real world- the world of forms (the world of the perfect horse).When his eyes are fully adjusted, he can see the world of forms in its full, and begin to understand it, using his intelligence. Finally, when he can stare directly into the sun, he will understand the true form of the good. Plato believed that our world as we knew it was based on forms, but what we saw were the shadows cast for us, and these shadows we see are the impermanent and changing particulars of the physical world, all based on the pure forms of the real world (the permanent world), which we are shielded from by the constraints placed upon us, and the blinding light that would deter us should we ever escape our constraints.However, according to Plato, we are perfectly content with the false world of change we are viewing on the back wall of the cave, as it is all we know about, and should we be freed, we would be utterly unwilling to be shown the real world, because of the uncertainties and the blinding light.

We would in fact have to be brought kicking and screaming into the real world of forms. His Use of the metaphor of shadows is to help us understand the relationship between the particulars of the physical world and the forms of the real world.This is necessary as it is hard to understand such complex ideas without a metaphor to refer to and aid in the explanation. b) Plato’s understanding of human reasoning basically consists of his belief that humans are terrified of change and incapable of helping themselves; they must be dragged into the light kicking and screaming, and then held there until they adjust to the light. He might be criticised on these grounds for being too harsh on the reasoning of humans.But his experience with people of that time would give him great grounds for criticising human reason in this way: his teacher and mentor, Socrates, was condemned to death for teaching philosophy to school children, and “introducing new gods”. Plato would portray this in the analogy of the cave with Socrates as the man dragging the freed prisoner up through to the surface, and the prisoner’s utter unwillingness to be enlightened.