Allegory of the Cave

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Socrates remarks that this allegory can be paired with previous writings, namely the analogy of the sun and the analogy of the divided line.




Plato - Allegory of the Cave.png

Imprisonment in the cave[edit]

Plato begins by having Socrates ask Glaucon to imagine a cave where people have been imprisoned from birth. These prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them and not look around at the cave, each other, or themselves (514a–b).[3] Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway with a low wall, behind which people walk carrying objects or puppets "of men and other living things" (514b).[3] The people walk behind the wall so their bodies do not cast shadows for the prisoners to see, but the objects they carry do ("just as puppet showmen have screens in front of them at which they work their puppets" (514a)[3]). The prisoners cannot see any of what is happening behind them, they are only able to see the shadows cast upon the cave wall in front of them. The sounds of the people talking echo off the walls, and the prisoners believe these sounds come from the shadows (514c).[3]


Departure from the cave[edit]


Plato then supposes that one prisoner is freed. This prisoner would look around and see the fire. The light would hurt his eyes and make it difficult for him to see the objects casting the shadows. If he were told that what he is seeing is real instead of the other version of reality he sees on the wall, he would not believe it. In his pain, Plato continues, the freed prisoner would turn away and run back to what he is accustomed to (that is, the shadows of the carried objects). He writes "... it would hurt his eyes, and he would escape by turning away to the things which he was able to look at, and these he would believe to be clearer than what was being shown to him."[3]

Plato continues: "Suppose... that someone should drag him... by force, up the rough ascent, the steep way up, and never stop until he could drag him out into the light of the sun."[3] The prisoner would be angry and in pain, and this would only worsen when the radiant light of the sun overwhelms his eyes and blinds him.[3]

"Slowly, his eyes adjust to the light of the sun. First he can only see shadows. Gradually he can see the reflections of people and things in water and then later see the people and things themselves. Eventually, he is able to look at the stars and moon at night until finally he can look upon the sun itself (516a)."[3] Only after he can look straight at the sun "is he able to reason about it" and what it is (516b).[3] (See also Plato's Analogy of the Sun, which occurs near the end of The Republic, Book VI.)[4]

Return to the cave[edit]

Plato continues, saying that the freed prisoner would think that the world outside the cave was superior to the world he experienced in the cave; "he would bless himself for the change, and pity [the other prisoners]" and would want to bring his fellow cave dwellers out of the cave and into the sunlight (516c).[3]

The returning prisoner, whose eyes have become accustomed to the sunlight, would be blind when he re-enters the cave, just as he was when he was first exposed to the sun (516e).[3] The prisoners, according to Plato, would infer from the returning man's blindness that the journey out of the cave had harmed him and that they should not undertake a similar journey. Socrates concludes that the prisoners, if they were able, would therefore reach out and kill anyone who attempted to drag them out of the cave (517a).[3]

Themes in the allegory appearing elsewhere in Plato's work[edit]



Scholarly discussion[edit]

Scholars debate the possible interpretations of the allegory of the Cave, either looking at it from an epistemological standpoint – one based on the study of how Plato believes we come to know things – or through a political (Politeia) lens.[6] Much of the scholarship on the allegory falls between these two perspectives, with some completely independent of either. The epistemological view and the political view, fathered by Richard Lewis Nettleship and A.S. Ferguson respectively, tend to be discussed most frequently.[6] Nettleship interprets the allegory of the cave as representative of our innate intellectual incapacity, in order to contrast our lesser understanding with that of the philosopher, as well as as an allegory about people who are unable or unwilling to seek truth and wisdom.[7] Ferguson, on the other hand, bases his interpretation of the allegory on the claim that the cave is an allegory of human nature and that it symbolizes the opposition between the philosopher and the corruption of the prevailing political condition.[7][8]

Cleavages have emerged within these respective camps of thought, however. Much of the modern scholarly debate surrounding the allegory has emerged from Martin Heidegger's exploration of the allegory, and philosophy as a whole, through the lens of human freedom in his book The Essence of Human Freedom: An Introduction to Philosophy and The Essence of Truth: On Plato's Cave Allegory and Theaetetus.[8] In response, Hannah Arendt, an advocate of the political interpretation of the allegory, suggests that through the allegory, Plato “wanted to apply his own theory of ideas to politics”.[9] Conversely, Heidegger argues that the essence of truth is a way of being and not an object.[10] Arendt criticized Heidegger’s interpretation of the allegory, noting that “Heidegger…is off base in using the cave simile to interpret and “criticize” Plato’s theory of ideas”.[9]

Other Scholarly Literature[edit]

The following is a list of supplementary scholarly literature on the Allegory of The Cave that includes articles from epistemological, political, alternative, and independent viewpoints on the allegory:



  • Evolutionary biologist Jeremy Griffith's book A Species In Denial includes the chapter Deciphering Plato’s Cave Allegory.[11]
  • The films The Matrix, Dark City and City of Ember model Plato's Allegory of the Cave.[12]
  • The Cave by José Saramago culminates in the discovery of Plato's Cave underneath the Center, 'an immense complex fusing the functions of an office tower, a shopping mall and a condominium.'[13]
  • The novel Room by Emma Donoghue and its film adaptation were inspired by Plato's Allegory of the Cave.[14]
  • Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 explores the themes of reality and perception also explored in Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Bradbury even references Plato's work in the novel.[15][16]
  • José Carlos Somoza's novel the Athenian Murders is presented as a murder mystery but features many references to Plato's philosophy including the allegory of the cave.[17]
  • The 2016 video game Furi contains commentary on the Allegory's ideas of freeing oneself from a prison for either personal or selfless reasons.[18]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Ferguson, A. S. "Plato's Simile of Light. Part II. The Allegory of the Cave (Continued)." The Classical Quarterly 16, no. 1 (1922): 15-28.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Plato. Rouse, W.H.D., ed. The Republic Book VII. Penguin Group Inc. pp. 365–401. 
  6. ^ Elliott, R. K. (1967). "Socrates and Plato's Cave". Kant-Studien. 58 (2): 138. 
  7. ^ Hall, Dale. "INTERPRETING PLATO'S CAVE AS AN ALLEGORY OF THE HUMAN CONDITION." Apeiron: A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science 14, no. 2 (1980): 74-86.
  8. ^ McNiell, William. "Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews." The Essence of Human Freedom: An Introduction to Philosophy and The Essence of Truth: On Plato's Cave Allegory and Theaetetus // Reviews // Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // University of Notre Dame. Accessed December 09, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Abensour, Miguel. Against the Sovereignty of Philosophy over Politics: Arendt's Reading of Plato's Cave Allegory Social Research; Winter 2007; 74, 4; ProQuest Social Sciences Premium Collection pg. 955
  10. ^ Powell, Sally. "Discovering the Unhidden: Heidegger's Interpretation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Its Implications for Psychotherapy." Existential Analysis 22, no. 1 (January 2011). Accessed December 8, 2016.
  14. ^ "Q & A with Emma Donoghue – Spoiler-friendly Discussion of Room (showing 1–50 of 55)". Retrieved 2016-01-30. 
  15. ^ "Parallels between Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave'". 
  16. ^ Bradbury, Ray (1953). Fahrenheit 451. The Random House Publishing Group. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-758-77616-7. 
  17. ^ Somoza, Jose Carlos (2003). The Athenian Murders. ABACUS. ISBN 978-0349116181. 
  18. ^ The Game Bakers, Furi. ed. The Game Bakers, 2016. Web. August 2016

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