![]() ![]() When we see a ray of light that forces us to analyze these things from another perspective, we are afraid and behave like the prisoners, denying the new reality. A part of us feels comfortable with familiar stereotypes and beliefs, with traditions that make us feel safe. In a sense, a part of us are those prisoners chained in the cave. Instead, we must continually question things, even those that we have always taken for granted, because there is always a better, convenient or simply different way of doing and understanding things. We think that we are immune to deception and lies, because we are more intelligent or have more experience, and this it means that this possibility does not worry us, so we are giving them an advantage in their play of shadows. In fact, the gaslighting is a perfect example of how someone can manipulate the reality to achieve his goals. And it is not just about the political class or the financial power, but also about simple people who behave like manipulators. Many people can take advantage of keeping others in a situation of deception and lies, like the prisoners chained in the cave. In this funny video is illustrated the myth of Plato’s cave.įundamental lessons that we can apply to our lifeĭo not think you are immune to deception and lies Therefore, they didn’t believe him and oppose to being liberated, also with violence. However, accustomed to sunlight, his eyes now have difficulty in distinguishing the shadows in the dark, so that the rest of the chained men believe that the trip to the outside world turned him stupid and blind. Finally he adapts to this reality and decides to return to the cave to tell the rest of the prisoners his fantastic discovery. When he’s explained that the things he sees are real and that the shadows are only reflected, he cannot believe it. This comes to light, but the sun blinds him, finds that everything around him is chaotic since he cannot give it a meaning. However, one day, one of the prisoners is released. The prisoners perceived these shadows and gave them names, believing that they perceived real things, because they were not aware that were just projections of reality. The chained men could only see their shadows and hear the echoes, which were projected onto the walls of the cave. Sometimes, other people and animals passed before the entrance to the cave. Therefore, they only look at the walls of the cave. They never managed to get out of it, nor did they have the ability to look at the past and understand the origin of the chains or see what happens behind them, out of the cave. ![]() Plato tells us that a group of men was condemned at birth to remain chained in the depths of a cave. He described it in Book VII of the Republic, in which he imagined an ideal society. But how can we be sure that what we observe is real? After all, much of what we experience is the product of our perception and is mediated by our internal experiences.Ībout 2,400 years ago, Plato proposed the same dilemma and tried to explain it through the allegory of the cave, which became a very interesting parable about the meaning of life in society and the nature of reality. Dick wrote: “reality is what does not disappear even if you stop believing in it”. Those who live in obscurity resist to see the lightĪ few years ago, Philip K. That’s why, in times of post-truth, the allegory of the cave by Plato is more current than ever. Although at first it may seem like an old and outdated idea, the truth is that this myth is a perfect metaphor that tries to reflect the dual reality in which we all live, and which it is difficult to escape. Not only has it influenced the development of philosophy and psychology, but marked also the way of thinking of Western society. This is the stage of Understanding, the ultimate goal of Plato's philosophy.The allegory of Plato’s cave is one of the greatest symbols of idealist philosophy. The fourth and final stage, the stage of the philosopher-king, is the recognition of the Form of Goodness, which, like the sun giving the prisoner light to see all things, leads to understanding all Forms. He realizes that objects we perceive with our senses are but copies of the ideal abstract Forms. When the prisoner sees the world outside the cave he enters the third state, that of Thought. He takes the objects of the physical world, like trees and chairs, as the ultimate reality, instead of poor copies of the ideal Forms of trees and chairs. When the prisoner is free and sees the people whose shadows he saw in the cave, he thinks they are real. The allegory begins with a prisoner chained in the cave, able only to see the shadows of people moving. The allegory of the cave is about education, about leading the soul from darkness into light, by stages.
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