The Allegory of the Cave: Truth?
Plato, The Allegory of the Cave. I've read some essays on it. I skimmed others. I heard accounts of it in person, but I never read it myself. I was hesitant to write anything about it because, frankly, I haven't read the book and it might be hard for me if I tried. I can, however, sparknote it. It was described basically how I remembered of it back when it was first explained to me. For those who don't want to read it I'll debrief you. Imagine a group of people bound to the floor of a cave. Their heads are rendered immovable so that all they can see is what appears on the wall straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues that are manipulated by another group of people who are lying out of sight. The people bound in the cave see these shadows and are given no choice but to understand them as reality or truth. Now one day one of these people have their bonds removed. They look around the cave