Topic > Worthy Life and Worthy Death in Plato's Allegory of the Cave

In human history, many examples have shown that what was believed to be true was not actually the truth. The long-standing paradigm that the Earth is the center of the universe was reversed by Galileo's announcement that it orbits the sun and is not the center of the universe. In the process, however, he was forced to kneel before the Roman Inquisition. His scientific beliefs were based on a long period of research, but society has traditionally embraced geocentrism and did not accept his new claims. In fact, a similar case existed two thousand years before Galileo, namely the death of the Greek philosopher Socrates. His disciple Plato places Socrates as the main speaker in his book The Republic, describing what an ideal nation is. Through the well-known allegory of the cave, Plato not only figuratively reveals the idea of ​​​​the immutable world of truth, but also metaphorically describes the poisoning incident of Socrates, forced to die for the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bjustice. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay We must first consider the allegory of the cave. The prisoners in the cave have "their necks and legs chained, they can only see in front of them". The prisoners, who have lived all their lives only on the wall, know nothing of what is happening behind them and do not even feel connected. They believe that the shadows they see are all in this world. One day a prisoner is freed from the chain and taken out of the cave. He realizes that the shadows he has ever seen are not real things, and finally concludes that the sun “is somehow the cause of all things that were.” However, even if he returned to the cave again and told the doomed prisoners the story of the real world behind the wall, they would scoff rather than accept it. The confinement of prisoners' hands and ankles means that they are subjected to social constraints from birth. Furthermore, looking in the same direction means that it is our convention to see things from the same perspective. The prisoners in the dark cave suggest a human being captive to social conventions. They are punished or penalized for ignoring contemporary conventions, morals and laws. Furthermore, presenting one's subjective perspective differently from conventions becomes the goal of surveillance and elimination of conservative intellectuals. The same goes for the death of Socrates. In other words, the prisoner who broke the chains came out of the cave, saw the sun and entered the cave again symbolizes the philosopher Socrates. Through the allegory of the cave, Plato renews who Socrates is as a philosopher and what he means. Socrates wanted to invite Athenian citizens to the world of Idea through the law of justice and goodness. However, the mainstream intellectuals of Athenian society of that time ended up condemning him to death, as his philosophy, which was completely different from their rational knowledge, began to penetrate the people. They felt that their status was shaken and decided to execute him. In the end Socrates was willing to drink an unjust poison. Later, his disciple Plato was successful and developed the philosophical thoughts of his teacher Socrates and wrote a book The Republic which informed the world about what was right and had a great influence on human intelligence. The allegory of the cave, one of three allegories that explain why a philosopher should rule the country, recalls the death of Socrates. Socrates, through reason, arrived at the world of Idea from the cave, the world of shadows. He also saw the sun come out of the cave and return to bring people into the world.