Plato Study Questions

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent? What I got was that the allegory represented how people are chained in the cave of what is considered the status quo of life where people see it as everything like the shadows and that it is also very difficult to be enlightened and break away from this cave and it takes a while for people to realize that there is more than what they have been led to believe. 2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory? The shadows created by the flame to be the reality the prisoners believe to be reality and the light at the end as the enlightenment of what else is out there other than what they have been led to believe to be all reality. 3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education? That it isn’t a quick process but one that takes a while to completely take in and adjust to due to being led for so long to believe to be everything. 4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners? That they are kept away from the rest of the world and only see what there is in their own little world. 5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind? Well coming from a Latino background I have seen Hispanic communities not try to further themselves but shackle themselves and keep themselves in their own little caves instead of breaking out enlightening themselves and bettering themselves with knowledge. 6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners? 7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they? 8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom? What I understood was that it was due to just curiosity of what is towards the light, and I would say that it suggests that intellectual freedom is created by our curiosity to question what’s out there that leads us to our freedom. 9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not? I would agree with that as Dr. Preston’ example of this is not a pipe works as what appeared to be a pipe turned out in reality was just a drawing of a pipe. 10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions? Appearances aren’t always true as reality is true would be what I think to be the distinction between the two.