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Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Introduction

The Allegory of the Cave is one of the most famous passages in Western philosophy. It appears in Book VII of Plato's Republic (circa 380 BCE) and is presented as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates.

The Allegory

The Cave

Socrates describes a dark cave where prisoners have been confined since childhood. These prisoners are chained in such a way that they can only look at the wall in front of them and cannot turn their heads.

The Shadows

Behind the prisoners burns a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners, there is a raised walkway. Along this walkway, people carry objects, including figures of animals and other things. The fire casts shadows of these objects onto the wall in front of the prisoners.

The prisoners, having never seen anything else, believe these shadows to be reality. They give names to the shadows and consider them the true forms of things.

The Escape

Socrates then im