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Kelley Wargowsky
English 102.010
Instructor: Maya Alapin
23 June 2014
Platos Allegory of the Cave and Education
Take a moment and think. How many of you, or those you know, have either
dropped out of high school or college? How many of you have graduated from either one? Now,
where do you, or your friends, stand on what having an education entails? The reason behind
asking is because written in Platos The Republic, there is a story where several prisoners are
held inside a cave. They are chained, only able to see shadows casted on to the cave wall. One
prisoner is set free and finds new discoveries in the outside world, these new discoveries
represent the newfound knowledge of a man who was once in a dreamlike state due to being
blind of what laid outside the walls. These chained prisoners represent those who are unable to
see the reality presented outside of their own little world. This allegory can relate to todays
modern society because the uneducated, or those who do not feel education is important, feel
their reality is perfect the way it is. This can pertain to those who feel school is just not their
thing, or those who do not know what they want to do with their lives. At the same time, those
who have taken advantage of the education offered to them feel that they are placed above
everyone else on a hierarchal standpoint. Needless to say, both parties are stuck in their little
reality and are cynical to see what lies beyond their own image. Do you know anyone stuck in
their own little world based upon their education?
To go beyond the personal image, Plato states that two things confuse the eyes: moving
from darkness to light and from light to darkness (Plato 178). Since the prisoner thought his
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reality consisted of shadows casted against the wall, he could have been taken as ignorant when
he reached the outside world because he did not know anything beyond a simple shadow. In The
Cave, the released prisoner is taken outside of the cave into bright sunlight. Just like anyone who
has been in the dark for so long, their eyes burn and cannot see clearly when overwhelmed by
light. Plato seems to be inferring that if you push someone into something at a rapid pace, for
instance education, that student will have a hard time adjusting and functioning under the
pressure put upon them.
According to Nicholas D. Smith, author of Plato: Critical Assessments, he helps to
define what degree of what is real the within the reality Plato is making. In order to figure out
what is real, it must contain results in empirical knowledge we record in empirically
confirmable or disconfirmable propositions (Smith 229). To some extent, it is noticeable to see
what Smith is talking about. In class, especially in science or whenever an experiment is
conducted, we must write down our findings. If it is not recorded one way or another, then the
evidence cannot be seen as true, and we cannot learn from what is not seen as factual evidence.
Smith claims he wants to brighten the different aspects created by Plato that needed to be
elaborated on. Plato would have to be convinced that the concepts of something being more or
less real were deceitful and to note what was real was based on physical evidence.
Smith does have some reasonable claims, but not everything must come from an
empirical standpoint. It appears that Plato is stating that what is more or less real to someone, is
based off what their education entails. The prisoners did not know any better, so they thought
that the shadows were a form of reality, not an image projected from another form pertaining to
that reality. As for today, we have people who may or may not have finished high school or
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college. To them, they know a shadow is a mere reflection, but not all of their beliefs relating to
their personal ideas are based off of peer reviewed document.
On the other hand, R. K. Elliot mentions how two authors find that it is possible that the
prisoners of Platos allegory are those who are blind to the injustice and politics within society,
accepting the different flaws. Elliot mentions that in the second portion of the Cave, the freed
prisoner represents a man who can think for himself and can reach his own conclusions about
what is right and good (Elliot 137). Elliot does say that there is a problem in determining who
the prisoners actually represent, seeing that the prisoners have been held captive since childhood,
and that people just conclude it is a representation of men.
Just like Smith, Elliot does seem to have some claims on what Plato is representing. In
contrast to Elliot stating that the allegory represents the inadequate system of education set upon
by Socrates, the concept and style of going about education is always changing. It can help
someone see either the good or the bad, and education is important whether or not one may agree
on how it is being taught. Elliot says that the freed prisoner cannot clearly see, therefore he is not
able to come up with a rightful decision. Based upon a claymation video detailing the allegory,
along with the understanding from Platos writing, it seemed the freed prisoner could indeed see
clearly. Though he could not see clearly at first, the freed prisoner did gather in his surroundings,
he gradually gained his insight and returned to the cave to see the other prisoners. As a
representation, he obtained an education, and rather than keeping his findings to himself, he
wanted to share it with his peers- enabling him to make what would be seen as a favorable
decision.
On a different spectrum, M. Andrew Holowchak has a more literal sense as to what Plato
is trying to say with his allegory. He writes that the freed prisoner returns for an extended period
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of time, he tries to educate those who are still chained in order to free them of their ignorance.
Holowchak says Plato not only refers to education, but also to ethics. He states that wisdom is
laborious, wisdom to fools appears as foolishness, and, most importantly, wisdom is preferable
to foolishness (Holowchak 75). Indeed, being wise is more preferable than it is to appear
foolish, but Holowchak seems to be one-sided. Not only were the chained prisoners ignorant of
what the freed one was trying to teach them, but the freed prisoner was ignorant of the chained
prisoners. He could not understand why they did not want to hear about the beauty of the newly
founded discoveries beyond the cave.
But the excellence of understanding, it seems, is definitely something more divine
(Plato 179). Being able to understand where each prisoner was coming from was not apparent to
the other. In terms of ones level of education today, not everyone wants to continue on, and not
everyone who continues on can understand why one does not. For Plato, if one wants to learn,
they will, but on their own terms and to a degree in which they are able to achieve their goals.
When speaking to Glaucon, it is said that when one is forced into something new, such as
looking into a fire for the first time, pain is afflicted. Then the prisoner is then feels astounded
about all the new information presented to him. This shows that when pressured into, or taught
against ones will, he will not want to form an understanding on the subject. Both parties are to
blame for possessing varying levels of ignorance. But according to Plato, one will not be
educated if one does not want to be.
Plato states that each person sees a reality based what they have learned throughout life.
This implies that every one of us belong in our own little world where no one should infringe
upon it with what is seen as nonsense. Though what is seen as nonsense is subjective to the
individual. The prisoners who remained in the cave thought the freed prisoner was losing his
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mind based upon what he told about a world outside of the prisoners. As for today, it is expected
that everyone must further their education one way or another after high school. Both those who
have completed a higher education and those who havent feel the other is ignorant of accepting
ones decision and stay hidden within their world. Each party is remaining in the dark, seeing
obscured shadows cast upon their walls because they cannot come to terms with what lays
outside their very own cave. Smith states that reality is based off of books and empirical
evidence, Elliot claims education will be the answer if something is right or wrong, and
Holowchak feels those refuse to become wise will remain foolish.
Education should be a part of life for someone who wants to learn, to put their whole soul
into it as Plato describes. Within each persons reality, they attain their own form of education,
whether from books or not. It is the people who are able to understand each point of view on
anothers reality that are seen to be more divine. That person is not blind to the ignorance, but
can accept the fact that no one should be held above another based upon what diploma one may
have received.










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Works Cited
Plato. Republic. Trans. Raymond Larson. Wheeling: Harlan Davidson, 1979. Print.

Smith, Nicholas D. Plato: Critical Assessments (Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers.
London: Routledge, 1998. Print

R. K. Elliot. "Socrates and Platos Cave" Kant-Studien Volume 58.Issue 1-4 (1967): pages 137-
157. Print.

M. Andrew Holowchak. "The Paradox of Public Service Jefferson, Education, and the Problem
of Plato's Cave." Studies in Philosophy and Education Volume 32.Issue 1 (2013): pages 73-86.
Print.

The Cave: An Adaptation of Platos Allegory in Clay. Youtube. Web. Bullhead Entertainment.
18 Aug. 2008. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM>.