Myth of the Cave (Plato)

The philosopher Plato lived in Athens between the 5th and 4th centuries BC. C and exposed his theories in the famous dialogues. Some of his contributions were explained from a resource literary allegorical, the mythical tale. One of these stories is precisely that of the Myth of the Cave

Brief summary of the story

In the dialogue the Republic, specifically in the book Vll, it is said that there was a group of people living as prisoners in a cave since their birth. All these people were chained in such a way that their vision was directed at all times towards a wall and, therefore, they did not know what was behind them.

Behind all of them was a bonfire and this meant that the only reference they had to the outside world was the different shadows that were projected on the wall.

In other words, the shadows cast by the fire from the bonfire made up the entire reality that the prisoners perceived. At this point Plato asks himself the following question: what would happen if one of the prisoners managed to free himself? If this circumstance were to occur, the prisoner would turn around and observe that behind him was a bonfire, then he could distinguish where the exit of the cavern was and when leaving it he would meet the light of the Sun.

At this point, Plato affirms that when leaving the cavern the prisoner would initially feel confused, but in a short time he would realize that what he before he perceived as the true world were actually shades.

A story that hides a philosophical theory about human knowledge

The various elements integrated into the myth of the cave are actually an allegory to explain the Platonic theory of knowledge. Thus, the shadows that initially appear at the bottom of the cavern refer to knowledge based on the imagination.

When the prisoner observes the sunlight for the first time, Plato is referring to a next level of knowledge, the belief. At the moment in which the prisoner leaves the cave definitively, knowledge is reached rational.

Finally, the symbol del Sol in the story refers to the idea of ​​Good, which is one that brings rationality to sensible ideas.

The myth of the cave serves as inspiration

The Platonic myth is 2,500 years old but continues to be a source of inspiration. In this sense, there are many questions that it suggests to us: would the information we handle be equivalent to the shadows of the cave? Do we know how to distinguish true knowledge from our illusions? Are we being deceived / manipulated and do we live in a permanent lie with appearance for real?

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