How is Plato responding to the Sophists
general article writing
Description
Explain what Plato's allegory of the Cave claims about education.
How is Plato responding to the Sophists? Make some assessment of Platonic
education.
The allegory of the cave represents humans’ relationship with education. The
philosopher, Plato, claims that the capacity for knowledge is present in our minds.
We only need to have the desire to be guided towards the greater good and reality. 1
In book VII of The Republic, Socrates is the principal speaker that uses Plato’s ideas to
introduce the allegory of the cave. The allegory takes place in a dark, underground cave
wherein prisoners were buckled since their youth. They were all tied in a specific way so
that they are compelled to look at the wall in front of them. There are people above the
prisoners that produce shadows on the wall using their fire. But one day, one of the
prisoners miraculously escapes and finds himself in the world outside of the cave. 2 Plato
uses the allegory of the cave to explain the process of education because it is one that
liberates people from valuing the shadows and recognizing reality.
