Allegory of the Cave Response Questions

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
- Socrates believes that the cave represents how we perceive reality and what we think it is. What we understand to be reality is the only reality we can understand.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
- The prisoners and their chains because they are tied to what they believe is reality, the shadows of the puppets behind them which represent false realities, the dark cave, and the fire and first seeing the outside (light) which is the actual world.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
- Plato says that everyone is given the capacity to learn in their soul when they are born. He also suggests that it is a difficult struggle that takes time.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
- The shackles represent the restriction we have because of our thoughts, and the cave represents the imagination we have and the reality we believe because of it.

 5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
- Today the thing that shackles the mind in my opinion is how others are going to perceive and accept us. We are constantly worried about what others think of us and it binds us down.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
- The freed prisoner represents an opportunist because he stepped out of his comfort zone and is now experiencing "real life." The prisoners can't understand what he describes to them because it is
extremely different than their version of reality, so instead he turns into just another shadow on the wall.

 7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
- The first way lack of clarity occurs is the prisoners not being able to see the actual "reality" because they are restrained by the chains. The second way, it when they choose not to listen to the freed prisoner and understand the information he is telling them.
8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
- The prisoners can only be freed by someone else who has been freed, meaning that they can only be enlightened by those who have been enlightened.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- This goes hand in hand with not judging a book by its cover. First impressions gives us an idea of the person but its not the "full" person (reality). So basically, appearance is a part of reality but they aren't exactly the same.

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
The first alternate assumption is that people will see what they believe. The second would be that their isn't an actual "reality" because everyone has their own version of reality.