1. The Allegory of the Cave by Plato Analysis and Interpretation

2. Analysis Socrates is the chief speaker; he drives the discussion, yet, it is still a discussion. For Plato, true knowledge is philosophic insight or awareness of the Good, not mere opinion or the ability of getting by in the world by remembering how things have usually worked in the past.

3. Analysis Socrates (Plato) uses the allegory to illustrate the idea that awareness of the Good is different from the ability to recognize things within the world Men imprisoned in a cave see on a wall in front of them the shadows or images of objects that are really behind them, and they hear echoes, not real voices.

4. Analysis The shadows are caused by the light from a fire behind the objects, and the echoes by the cave’s acoustical properties. The prisoners, unable to see or perceive the real objects and voices, mistakenly believe them to be real; some of them grow greatly adept at dealing with this illusionary world.

5. Analysis In a modern view, the cave is like a movie theater; we see on the screen in front of us images caused by an object (film, passing in front of light) that is behind us. The film itself is an illusionary image because it contains only the traces of a real world, a world that is photographed, outside of the movie theater.

6. Analysis When we leave the movie theater and move into reality, are eyes have become so accustomed to the imaginary world that at first, when the light hits our eyes, we blink with discomfort. This parallels the discomfort the freed prisoners do when they move out of the cave. They encounter the real world of bright day, and long for the darkness.

7. Analysis Plato (Socrates) suggests the dwellers in ignorance may prefer the familiar shadows of their unenlightened world (the world of becoming) to the bright world of the eternal Good (the world of being) that education (enlightenment) reveals.

8. Critical Thinking Questions 1. Plato is not merely reporting one of Socrates’ conversations; he is teaching. What advantages does a dialogue have over a narrative or an essay as a way of teaching philosophy? How is the form of a dialogue especially suitable for solving a problem?

9. Critical Thinking Questions 2. The etymology (history of words) of the word conversation is “"living together, having dealings with others," also "manner of conducting oneself in the world.“ Is the etymology appropriate to Plato’s idea about education? Explain.

10. Critical Thinking Questions 3. Socrates describes the prisoners as reluctantly being dragged upward and forced to look at the sun. Socrates then questions if the prisoner would be irritated by this. Is pain and discomfort necessary for learning to occur? Explain.

11. Critical Thinking Questions 4. If we moved the allegory into the movie theater and out of the cave, would the impact on the reader be as powerful? Explain. 5. The metaphors of education as conversation and ascent are linked by the metaphor of light. Consider such expressions as “I see” (meaning “I understand”) and “Let me give an illustration” (from the Latin in=in and lustrare=to make bright). What other expression about light are used metaphorically to describe intellectual comprehension? Can you create one?