The Allegory of The Cave’ by Plato:

Summary and Meaning

September 21, 2012 by Philosophyzer
The ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ is a theory put forward by Plato, concerning human perception.
Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is no more than opinion and that, in
order to have real knowledge, we must gain it through philosophical reasoning.
‘The Allegory of the Cave’ by Plato
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake sensory
knowledge for the truth and people who really do see the truth. It goes like this:
The Cave
 Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to some rocks,
their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that they cannot look at anything
but the stonewall in front of them.
 These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the cave.
 Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway.
 People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their head including;
animals, plants, wood and stone.
The Shadows
 So, imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything behind or to
the side of you – you must look at the wall in front of you.
 When people walk along the walkway, you can see shadows of the objects they are
carrying cast on to the wall.
 If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that the shadows of
objects were ‘real.’
The Game
 Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which shadow would
appear next.
 If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as clever and
say that he were a master of nature.
The Escape
 One of the prisoners then escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave.
 He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be
real.
 As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former view of reality
was wrong.
 He begins to understand his new world, and sees that the Sun is the source of life and
goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning
 He see’s that his former life, and the guessing game they played is useless.
The Return
 The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings.
 They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.
‘ The Allegory of The Cave’ by Plato – The Meaning
The Allegory of the cave by Plato should not be taken at face value. In essays and exams,
whoever is marking it expects you to have a deeper understanding of the meaning of the theory.
You can then use these to think about criticisms and then to form your own opinion.

Students – Save Money as you shop with Top CashBack.

The Cave
 In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from
what we see and hear in the world – empirical evidence. The cave shows that believers of
empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding.
The Shadows
 The Shadows represent the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence ensures
knowledge. If you believe that what you see should be taken as truth, then you are merely
seeing a shadow of the truth. In Plato’s opinion you are a ‘pleb’ if you believe this (their
insult for those who are not Philosophers)!
The Game
 The Game represents how people believe that one person can be a ‘master’ when they
have knowledge of the empirical world. Plato is demonstrating that this master does not
actually know any truth, and suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this.
The Escape
 The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the
cave and outside of the senses.
 The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge
 His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey when finding truth and wisdom
The Return
 The other prisoners reaction to the escapee returning represents that people are scared of
knowing philosophical truths and do not trust philosophers.
It is always recommended that you read the original text by Plato to reach the top grades. If you
would like to purchase ‘The Republic’ by Plato, click here!

You might also like to read about Plato’s Theory of Forms.

Helpful links for Students
Top CashBack – Make Money as you shop with this Cash Back account.
Young Persons RailCard – Save 33% on train Travel with your RailCard.
20 Cogs – Earn Money Online through Offers and Surveys.
Trusted Housesitters – Travel the world with free accommodation by house and pet sitting.
Easy Roommate – Cheap student accommodation and house shares.
CategoriesFeatured PostsTagsAllegory of the Cave, PlatoPost navigation
The Study of Philosophy
Platos Theory of Forms – What does it really mean?
The Allegory of The Cave’ by Plato: Summary and Meaning”
 franko sinkala
December 28, 2013 at 4:20 pm | Reply
that is true we should not relieve on our senses perception instead we should goes beyond these
senses perception where we can attain the true knowledge
The principle behind the thought is one I believe we all know, or at least can relate to but few
ever have the courage to pursue. Oh we may begin to but when it gets too difficult to ponder, we
retreat back to the safety of empirical reality.
1. Stephen Somers
February 11, 2014 at 6:05 pm | Reply
your reality is a perception based on what you think you know, what do you really know. I now I
can or I can not, I know I have a choice, I know that I am conscious. I can, I have, I am.
June 17, 2014 at 6:15 am | Reply
I still don’t understand this concept. Is this you only believe what you see or hear rather to go
out and seek the truth?
2. The shadows are religious beliefs. The other prisoners, the one who guessed what was next, and
revered for his wisdom, is a symbol of religious “leaders.”. The prisoner who escapes is a free
thinker. The prisoners who attack his message when he returns are bible thumping no-nothing’s
who stick to the shadows as reality.

This isn’t about religion, it’s about seeking knowledge and being rejected for it. It’s basically a
huge metaphor for what Socrates went through in the Apology when he was sentenced to death
for asking questions that challenged the accepted believes of that time.
December 21, 2014 at 5:02 pm | Reply
Plato’s allegory of the cave, is his epistemology and view about reality. to him, dis world that
is susceptible to sight nd sense experience is but an imperfect reflection of the perfect world
of really real. The world of the cave nd the world of eventual reality can be akin to painting
which imperfect ly copies the real one. standing on this projected fact, I think plato is right in
his metaphysics.
 Dan
November 28, 2016 at 3:28 pm | Reply
Rather, it is the opposite. It is about how materialism, or modern atheism, is based on using
observations of the shadows and not seeking the truth that has always been outside their
realm of “knowledge.” I believe you are missing the entire point of the allegory.
 Anonymous
August 23, 2018 at 5:27 pm | Reply
This story can be interpreted in many ways. Whether you view it from a religious,
philosophical, or other perspective, it can mean different things. Some people may relate this
story to religious beliefs, while others may think of an entirely different circumstance, such
as social problems. In the end, no matter how you perceive it or what you may relate it to,
this story is representing enlightenment from the simplicity that was previously known and
the ignorance and distrust of those who are still oblivious.
 Akalisak
January 29, 2019 at 6:23 am | Reply
Yes this is the way I see it, it represents many different things, but ultimately knowledge.
The bottom line is that the prisoners should never have committed a crime to begin with or else
they would already have had a real normal reality instead of the demented one they have created
for themselves by violating the law. Prisoners belong in prison (usually)
 Perrence Perre
November 17, 2015 at 7:09 pm | Reply
Ur an idiot, it says they were born there and never knew anything else

January 7, 2016 at 8:17 pm | Reply

They were held captive because they were tied up, they just used prisoners to describe them
because it’s more convenient.

Light Emitting Smile

November 19, 2014 at 11:26 pm | Reply
The reason why dumb people do not trust philosophers is that they are too lazy to keep their
minds working.

The contrast that Plato refers to is between empirical knowledge that has to be filtered through
our subjective perception and philosophical argument that does not. For example; how can we be
sure that your perception of the colour green is the same as mine? We cannot. However the
philosophical observation that this is the case is a pure, ultimate piece of knowledge.
3. Socrates made it simple, our senses deceive and broke us from perceiving reality as it is. Thus, it
is only logic and rational that is reliable. Thanks
Benedict Mambya Nyamagatara
November 30, 2016 at 5:13 am | Reply
Philosophy is life, to ignore the journey to search for the truth is equally to choose darkness or
death. Senses deceives, its only logic/rational reasoning that yield knowledge. The truth will set
you free …

January 26, 2017 at 10:53 am | Reply

that is a great idea from our father.it is my wish that all people will accept his theory and goes by
it to the benefit of all ,thanks.

MBE
November 8, 2017 at 12:27 pm | Reply
Perhaps it simply means that our minds are imprisioned by our life experiences, represented by
the prisoners in the cave. The escaped prisoner represents an ‘epiphany ‘, or ‘enlightenment’.
The prisoners who wouldn’t listen, represents the difficulty people have in opening their closed
minds

Harvey Kirstel
December 22, 2018 at 9:00 pm | Reply
The persons in the cave are in their comfort zone. This is true of every group or community.
They do not accept of believe in an other possibility.
4.
Harvey Kirstel
December 22, 2018 at 9:00 pm | Reply
The persons in the cave are in their comfort zone. This is true of every group or community.
They do not accept of believe in an other possibility.
 The Allegory of the Cave
1. Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc., without
(so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms.
2. The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this.
3. In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners
chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave.
Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet,
along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners,
hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable
to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners
see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see. Here is
an illustration of Plato’s Cave:

From Great Dialogues of Plato (Warmington and Rouse, eds.) New York, Signet Classics: 1999. p. 316.

4. Such prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the things
they see on the wall (the shadows) were real; they would know nothing of the real
causes of the shadows.
5. So when the prisoners talk, what are they talking about? If an object (a book, let us
say) is carried past behind them, and it casts a shadow on the wall, and a prisoner
says “I see a book,” what is he talking about?

He thinks he is talking about a book, but he is really talking about a shadow. But he
uses the word “book.” What does that refer to?

6. Plato gives his answer at line (515b2). The text here has puzzled many editors, and
it has been frequently emended. The translation in Grube/Reeve gets the point
correctly:

“And if they could talk to one another, don’t you think they’d suppose that the names
they used applied to the things they see passing before them?”

7. Plato’s point is that the prisoners would be mistaken. For they would be taking the
terms in their language to refer to the shadows that pass before their eyes, rather
than (as is correct, in Plato’s view) to the real things that cast the shadows.
 If a prisoner says “That’s a book” he thinks that the word “book” refers to the very
thing he is looking at. But he would be wrong. He’s only looking at a shadow. The
real referent of the word “book” he cannot see. To see it, he would have to turn his
head around.

8. Plato’s point: the general terms of our language are not “names” of the physical
objects that we can see. They are actually names of things that we cannot see,
things that we can only grasp with the mind.
9. When the prisoners are released, they can turn their heads and see the real objects.
Then they realize their error. What can we do that is analogous to turning our heads
and seeing the causes of the shadows? We can come to grasp the Forms with our
minds.
10. Plato’s aim in the Republic is to describe what is necessary for us to achieve this
reflective understanding. But even without it, it remains true that our very ability to
think and to speak depends on the Forms. For the terms of the language we use get
their meaning by “naming” the Forms that the objects we perceive participate in.
11. The prisoners may learn what a book is by their experience with shadows of books.
But they would be mistaken if they thought that the word “book” refers to something
that any of them has ever seen.

Likewise, we may acquire concepts by our perceptual experience of physical objects.

But we would be mistaken if we thought that the concepts that we grasp were on the
same level as the things we perceive.

Plato THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE Republic, VII 514 a, 2 to 517 a, 7 Translation by Thomas Sheehan THE
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SOCRATES: Next, said I [= Socrates], compare our nature in respect of education
and its lack to such an experience as this. PART ONE: SETTING THE SCENE: THE CAVE AND THE FIRE The
cave SOCRATES: Imagine this: People live under the earth in a cavelike dwelling. Stretching a long way
up toward the daylight is its entrance, toward which the entire cave is gathered. The people have been
in this dwelling since childhood, shackled by the legs and neck..Thus they stay in the same place so that
there is only one thing for them to look that: whatever they encounter in front of their faces. But
because they are shackled, they are unable to turn their heads around. A fire is behind them, and there
is a wall between the fire and the prisoners SOCRATES: Some light, of course, is allowed them, namely
from a fire that casts its glow toward them from behind them, being above and at some distance.
Between the fire and those who are shackled [i.e., behind their backs] there runs a walkway at a certain
height. Imagine that a low wall has been built the length of the walkway, like the low curtain that
puppeteers put up, over which they show their puppets. The images carried before the fire SOCRATES:
So now imagine that all along this low wall people are carrying all sorts of things that reach up higher
than the wall: statues and other carvings made of stone or wood and many other artifacts that people
have made. As you would expect, some are talking to each other [as they walk along] and some are
silent. GLAUCON: This is an unusual picture that you are presenting here, and these are unusual
prisoners. SOCRATES: They are very much like us humans, I [Socrates] responded. What the prisoners
see and hear SOCRATES: What do you think? From the beginning people like this have never managed,
whether on their own or with the help by others, to see anything besides the shadows that are
[continually] projected on the wall opposite them by the glow of the fire. GLAUCON: How could it be
otherwise, since they are forced to keep their heads immobile for their entire lives? SOCRATES: And
what do they see of the things that are being carried along [behind them]? Do they not see simply these
[namely the shadows]? GLAUCON: Certainly. SOCRATES: Now if they were able to say something about
what they saw and to talk it over, do you not think that they would regard that which they saw on the
wall as beings? GLAUCON: They would have to. SOCRATES: And now what if this prison also had an echo
reverberating off the wall in front of them [the one that they always and only look at]? Whenever one of
the people walking behind those in chains (and carrying the things) would make a sound, do you think
the prisoners would imagine that the speaker were anyone other than the shadow passing in front of
them? GLAUCON: Nothing else, by Zeus! SOCRATES: All in all, I responded, those who were chained
would consider nothing besides the shadows of the artifacts as the unhidden. GLAUCON: That would
absolutely have to be. PART TWO: THREE STAGES OF LIBERATION FREEDOM, STAGE ONE A prisoner gets
free SOCRATES: So now, I replied, watch the process whereby the prisoners are set free from their
chains and, along with that, cured of their lack of insight, and likewise consider what kind of lack of
insight must be if the following were to happen to those who were chained. Walks back to the fire
SOCRATES: Whenever any of them was unchained and was forced to stand up suddenly, to turn around,
to walk, and to look up toward the light, in each case the person would be able to do this only with pain
and because of the flickering brightness would be unable to look at those things whose shadows he
previously saw. Is questioned about the objects SOCRATES: If all this were to happen to the prisoner,
what do you think he would say if someone were to inform him that what he saw before were [mere]
trifles but that now he was much nearer to beings; and that, as a consequence of now being turned
toward what is more in being, he also saw more correctly? The answer he gives SOCRATES: And if
someone were [then] to show him any of the things that were passing by and forced him to answer the
question about what it was, don't you think that he would be a wit's end and in addition would consider
that what he previously saw [with is own eyes] was more unhidden than what was now being shown [to
him by someone else]. GLAUCON: Yes, absolutely. Looking at the fire-light itself SOCRATES: And if
someone even forced him to look into the glare of the fire, would his eyes not hurt him, and would he
not then turn away and flee [back] to that which he is capable of looking at? And would he not decide
that [what he could see before without any help] was in fact clearer than what was now being shown to
him? GLAUCON: Precisely. FREEDOM, STAGE TWO Out of the cave into daylight SOCRATES: Now,
however, if someone, using force, were to pull him [who had been freed from his chains] away from
there and to drag him up the cave's rough and steep ascent and not to let go of him until he had
dragged him out into the light of the sun... Pain, rage, blindness SOCRATES: ...would not the one who
had been dragged like this feel, in the process, pain and rage? And when he got into the sunlight,
wouldn't his eyes be filled with the glare, and wouldn't he thus be unable to see any of the things that
are now revealed to him as the unhidden? GLAUCON: He would not be able to do that at all, at least not
right away. Getting used to the light SOCRATES: It would obviously take some getting accustomed, I
think, if it should be a matter of taking into one's eyes that which is up there outside the cave, in the
light of the sun. Shadows and reflections SOCRATES: And in this process of acclimitization he would first
and most easily be able to look at (1) shadows and after that (2) the images of people and the rest of
things as they are reflected in water. Looking at things directly SOCRATES: Later, however, he would be
able to view (3) the things themselves [the beings, instead of the dim reflections]. But within the range
of such things, he might well contemplate what there is in the heavenly dome, and this dome itself,
more easily during the night by looking at the light of the stars and the moon, [more easily, that is to
say,] than by looking at the sun and its glare during the day. GLAUCON: Certainly. FREEDOM, STAGE
THREE: THE SUN Looking at the sun itself SOCRATES: But I think that finally he would be in the condition
to look at (4) the sun itself, not just at its reflection whether in water or wherever else it might appear,
but at the sun itself, as it is in and of itself and in the place proper to it and to contemplate of what sort
it is. GLAUCON: It would necessarily happen this way. Thoughts about the sun: its nature and functions
SOCRATES: And having done all that, by this time he would also be able to gather the following about
the sun: (1) that it is that which grants both the seasons and the years; (2) it is that which governs
whatever there is in the now visible region of sunlight; and (3) that it is also the cause of all those things
that the people dwelling in the cave have before they eyes in some way or other. GLAUCON: It is
obvious that he would get to these things -- the sun and whatever stands in its light -- after he had gone
 out beyond those previous things, the merely reflections and shadows. Thoughts about the cave
SOCRATES: And then what? If he again recalled his first dwelling, and the "knowing" that passes as the
norm there, and the people with whom he once was chained, don't you think he would consider himself
lucky because of the transformation that had happened and, by contrast, feel sorry for them?
GLAUCON: Very much so. What counts for "wisdom" in the cave SOCRATES: However, what if among the
people in the previous dwelling place, the cave, certain honors and commendations were established for
whomever most clearly catches sight of what passes by and also best remembers which of them
normally is brought by first, which one later, and which ones at the same time? And what if there were
honors for whoever could most easily foresee which one might come by next? What would the liberated
prisoner now prefer? SOCRATES: Do you think the one who had gotten out of the cave would still envy
those within the cave and would want to compete with them who are esteemed and who have power?
Or would not he or she much rather wish for the condition that Homer speaks of, namely "to live on the
land [above ground] as the paid menial of another destitute peasant"? Wouldn't he or she prefer to put
up with absolutely anything else rather than associate with those opinions that hold in the cave and be
that kind of human being? GLAUCON: I think that he would prefer to endure everything rather than be
that kind of human being. PART THREE: THE PRISONER RETURNS TO THE CAVE The return: blindness
SOCRATES: And now, I responded, consider this: If this person who had gotten out of the cave were to
go back down again and sit in the same place as before, would he not find in that case, coming suddenly
out of the sunlight, that his eyes ere filled with darkness?" GLAUCON: Yes, very much so. The debate
with the other prisoners SOCRATES: Now if once again, along with those who had remained shackled
there, the freed person had to engage in the business of asserting and maintaining opinions about the
shadows -- while his eyes are still weak and before they have readjusted, an adjustment that would
require quite a bit of time -- would he not then be exposed to ridicule down there? And would they not
let him know that he had gone up but only in order to come back down into the cave with his eyes
ruined -- and thus it certainly does not pay to go up. And the final outcome: SOCRATES: And if they can
get hold of this person who takes it in hand to free them from their chains and to lead them up, and if
they could kill him, will they not actually kill him? GLAUCON: They certainly will. End
I was reading an article not too long ago that made reference to Plato’s Shadow World,
you know, The Allegory of the Cave from his book The Republic.
In this allegory Plato imagined a group of prisoners chained in a cave facing a wall and
unable to turn around. Behind them was an eternally burning flame and between the
flame and the prisoners there was a parade of objects and people that cast their
shadows upon the wall. To the prisoners their reality was this two dimensional
movement of shadows before them. Unknown to them was a reality of immense
multidimensional complexity that if they had known of it would have totally explained
their universe.
In a lot of ways Plato’s shadow world is a reflection of what the unconscious shadow
mind that resides in each of us does to our experience of reality. The cave we live in is
the one of our conscious mind and its three dimensional way of seeing things. We too,
like the prisoners in Plato’s allegory, cannot “see” the reality behind us when all we have
is the wall of our conscious mind to perceive with.

What we are missing is a 4th dimension of space, that created by the unconscious mind–
that part of us where we have stuffed what we don’t want to look at, that part of us
where the archetypes of the whole of humanity lay informing and forming what we see
and what we do. There is a world beyond our conscious awareness that makes up 80-
90% of the real world. But unlike Plato’s prisoners we have the ability to “turn around”
so as to perceive it, so as to understand the meaning of the world we find ourselves in.
How do we do this? How do we loosen our own chains so as to make the shift in
perception? Fortunately it’s pretty easy for the universe has given us the tools to expand
our consciousness through our dreams and the art of meditation. Both tap into the Great
Unconscious, both give a glimpse as to the world behind us that cast the shadows that
lay before us.

Our world is not just the three 3 dimensional reality we’re so familiar with– there’s a
4thdimension to the space/time continuum we’re all used to and it is the realm of the
greater psyche and the individual and world soul that informs and enriches its every
expression.
Just as Plato’s prisoners saw their shadows as neither positive nor negative the objects
that move in our unconscious mind are also neither positive nor negative, it is our
conscious mind that labels them as such. This shows up especially with those who have
low self-esteem for they cannot see the positive aspect shadows that hide within the
unconscious. But there is an inestimable reservoir of creativity that resides in the
shadow world of the unconscious mind i.e. both that which is labeled positive and that
which is labeled negative contribute significantly to what is created in the conscious
world.

Next time you have a dream where a dark something or someone shows up and
threatens your dream-self don’t run from it, engage it, start a conversation with it. You
may find that such a conversation actually illuminates what’s going on in your life. The
shadow often has information to enlighten even though it seems to come from the
darkness. Using your dreams to unlock the chains that have kept you staring at only
one dimension of reality can be immensely rewarding.
The Allegory of the Cave (also titled Plato's Cave or Parable of the Cave) is presented by the Greek
philosopher Plato in his work The Republic (514a–520a) to compare "...the effect of education
(παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon
and his mentor Socrates, narrated by the latter. The allegory is presented after the Analogy of the
Sun (508b–509c) and the Analogy of the Divided Line (509d–513e). All three are characterized in
relation to dialectic at the end of Books VII and VIII (531d–534e). Plato has Socrates describe a
gathering of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall.
The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and
begin to designate names to these shadows. The shadows are as close as the prisoners get to
viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave
and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can
perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. Socrates
remarks that this allegory can be taken with what was said before, namely the Analogy of the Sun
and the Analogy of the Divided Line. In particular, he likens our perception of the world around us "to
the habitation in prison, the firelight there to the sunlight here, the ascent and the view of the upper
world is the rising of the soul into the world of the mind" (517b).

Ang Talinghaga ng Kueba

(The Allegory of the Cave by Plato)
Isang araw, nagkakwentuhan si Socrates, isang griyegong pilosopo at guro ni Plato, at si Glaucon,
nakatatandang kapatid ni Plato.
Sabi ni Socrates, "Glaucon, wariin mong merong mga bihag sa isang kweba. Mula sa pagkabata
hanggang sa pagtanda, wala ng ibang mundong nakagisnan ang mga bihag na ito kundi ang loob
ng kueba. Nakatali ang kanilang mga kamay, paa at leeg kung kaya't hindi sila makagalaw.
Nakaharap lamang sila sa isang pader. Sa likod nila, may siga ng apoy at malayog na daanan. Sa
daanang ito may mga magmamanyika (puppeteers). Iba't ibang klase ng hugis ang ginagamit ng
mga magmamanyika: hugis ng tao, hayop at kung ano-ano pa. Naghahasik ng anino sa pader ang
mga hugis gawa ng ilaw mula sa apoy. Ito lang ang nakikita ng mga bihag. Para sa kanila, ang mga
anino ay totoo. Kadalasan pa'y nagpapaligsahan sila kung sino ang makakahula sa pangalan ng
unang aninong makikita nila sa pader. Ito ang reyalidad para sa mga bihag.
Isang araw, nakatakas ang isa sa mga bihag. Pagkalabas niya ng kueba, halos mabulag sya sa
liwanag ng araw. Magkahalong pagkatuliro at pagkamangha ang kanyang naramdaman nang
makita nya ang kapaligiran. Sa pagdaan ng mga araw, unti-unting nyang nadiskubre ang mundo sa
labas ng kueba. Unti-unti rin nyang naunawaan na ang mga anino sa loob ng kueba ay persepsyon
lamang.
Nag pasya itong bumalik sa kueba upang ipamalita sa ibang mga bihag ang kanyang mga
nadiskubre, at upang sila ay palayain.
Nang makabalik sya sa kueba, isiniwalat nya ang kanyang mga nalaman. Pinagtawanan at ininsulto
sya ng mga bihag. Sabi nila sya ay wala sa tamang pag iisip at pawang imahinasyon nya lamang
ang kanyang mga pinagsasabi. Nang tangkain nyang palayain ang mga bihag, nagalit ang mga ito
sa kanya at pinagbantaan syang papatayin.
----
May tatlong konklusyon ang talinghagang ito ni Plato:
1. Sa kabila ng pagbabanta ng mga bihag, nagtiyaga ang nakalayang bihag na kumbinsihin ang
mga ito tungkol sa mundo sa labas ng kueba (enlightens, teaches, instructs).
2. Dahil sa takot nyang mawalay sa mga ibang bihag na itinuring niya ng pamilya, bumalik sya sa
kueba upang muling maging isang bihag at kinalimutan ang kanyang mga nadiskubre (fear of being
ostracised, of being alone, of not belonging).
3. Nagpasya syang tuluyang lisanin ang kueba at iwanan ang mga bihag.
----
Ang "The Allegory of the Cave" ay kadalasang ginagamit sa mga paksang patungkol sa metaphysics
at epistemology. Pero ito ay malimit ding ginagamit bilang paglalarawang ng social conditions. Ang
pelikulang "The Matrix" ay hinubog din sa talinghagang ito. Para sa akin naman, ang alegoryang ito
ay maihahalintulad ko sa kasalukuyang sitwasyon sa Pilipinas. Marami sa atin ang ipinaglalaban
ang tama, winawasto ang baluktot na pag iisip, ang mga makalumang paniniwala -- ang iwan ang
kueba. Pero may ilan na ayaw nito lalo na yung mga taong mawawalan ng kapangyarihan kung well-
informed ang mga mamamayan. Gusto nilang manatiling mangmang, walang boses at nakagapos
ang mga Filipino upang maipagpatuloy nila ang kanilang paghahari sa lipunan.