POL113H5 Lecture Notes - John Stuart Mill
Document Summary
Everyone is a prisoner of the cave; everyone without proper education is a prisoner of their own ignorance. The prisoners are unaware they are prisoners. What they see, they are mistaking as reality; they are unaware that they are actually shadows. There is an exit outside of this cave, it is steep and difficult, but leads to true sunlight. They never try to escape their imprisonment, because they don"t know that they are prisoners. If they were forced to leave this imprisonment and see reality, they would be tempted to return to their prison. Once acclimatised, they can never return back to their previous life. The effect of education has provided them with a better understanding of life. If the prisoner were to be placed back into the cave, with the knowledge they gained, will now be bad at guessing the shadows on the wall because they will be disinterested.
