PHL100Y1 Lecture : The Republic Book 7.docx
Document Summary
The cave is meant to be the mirror image of the ship because it was to show why philosophers weren"t useless: they have insight to knowledge no one else does. The cave shows what the world looks like from the philosopher"s point of view. Plato is giving us a picture that goes along with the other literary figures but it is to give a sketch of how the world really works. The cave is our situation: we are like people who are chained into place and can only look forward at the wall; the single source of illumination is a fire behind them. There is a roadway where people are holding cardboard cut-outs that casts a shadow through the fire. The people stuck in the cave can only see shadows of the imitations of the real things. One man breaks free, emerges through the cave and is blinded by the sun, but finally sees the real world.
