The Allegory of the Cave is an analogy about the ignorance of those uninformed and the restrictive nature of coming past that
Imagine people chained in a way that they can only see a wall informs of them. Behind them is a light that casts their shadow onto that wall. If they’ve been there since birth, all they’d know is their shadows on the wall. as things and people move behind them, the only thing they’d know it’s their shadows. And in this situation, they wouldn’t see those shadows and shadows of things, but as the things themself.
Eventually, imagine one of the people chained escapes. They are able to look around and see the world in 3 dimensions. See the fire behind them and see the exit of the cave. And as they’d see the world lit by the sun, they’re disbelief would be overwhelming. The sun would make them squint their eyes and it would be a long time before they could see normally.
And as they accustom to this new world, retuning to the caves would be difficult. As they enter the dark it would be more difficult to see clearly. If they were to return to their shackles it’s movement would be strange. And the others bound would be in disbelief as they tried to explain to hem the world beyond.
Pluto uses this analogy to discuss the difference in class and how a city should be run. How if when the escaped person returns they’d be pushed away and labeled crazy, that it is not the responsibility for those in the light to reach out to those in the dark.
I believe this is idiotic. It looks at knowledge and understanding as a binary. That you are either knowledgeable or not. And that once you are informed there is no more to be informed on. This is a obviously not true and it is in those in between s where this analogy falls apart. That no good educator drops a calculus text book on a child’s desk and would leave it to the child to understand the content. Understanding comes in levels and there is always level above the one your at.
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