Myth Of The Cave Essay

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The Greek philosopher, Plato maintains an idea, namely the “Myth of the Cave.” Plato begins this myth by having Socrates ask Glaucon to imagine a cave where people have been imprisoned from birth. He states that these prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are pinned down, which forces them to stare at the wall directly in front of them, rather than looking around at the cave full of other people and themselves. Within the myth, Plato shares that behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway with a low wall. Behind this wall, there are people who walk while carrying objects or puppets "of men and other living things". The people that walk behind the wall are unable to be seen by the …show more content…
I believe that the cave is representing the world, and the prisoners are us, or those who inhabit the world. Next, the chains that prevent the prisoners from seeing what is surrounding them, represents our ignorance, and enable us from seeing the truth in the world that we live in. And finally, the shadows that objects cast on the walls of the cave represent what we see in the present world. The question becomes, is everything we see merely an imitation and sometimes even only an imitation of an imitation? Plato asks us to accept the concept that even apparently man-made objects like beds and chairs have an original form belonging to a changeless, eternal world of Forms created by God. This leads to his conclusion that life, and art itself, is not a reality, but an imitation. Plato’s believes that since badness cannot be created by God, it is an illusion. From this, we see that evil represented in art is only an illusion. Furthermore, he states that if it is not God, it is not real, therefore it should be treated with caution in artistic representation. I also am confident that we cannot make God responsible for the evil objects in our world. We must find some other way to account for evil and a way to do this is to view things merely as an
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