PHL 201 Midterm: The Allegory of the Cave
12 May 2016
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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. 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. 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.
