a few thoughts…

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” describes the idea of a world in which people trapped in a cave can only see the shadows from the real world that are casted on to the cave’s wall. All the people know are the shadows of the real world people, animals, and things, but once one of the men is freed from the cave he finally sees the real world and can’t believe his eyes. The shadows they saw were only reflections of what was real. So, what Plato suggests is that these illusions in the cave are what we’re seeing in our world, and we’re not actually in the real world.

With television, movies, and the media in general ruling our lives, how are they affecting the way we perceive knowledge and reality? In relation to Plato’s Cave, the media is the cave because of its power to create any illusion necessary. In today’s world, social media, t.v. shows, and movies are most modern societies only source of information, which can be a dangerous matter. Pictures and videos are posted everyday on social media. Instagram, Youtube, reality t.v., and any other media platforms are places where people like to portray their “lives”, but most of the time the things you see aren’t like that in reality. Instagramers and Youtubers have been known to lie on their social medias, and many have come clean to their fans about the way they’ve represented their lives. People like to create the illusions of having picture perfect lives, but it effects those who buy into their deceptions.

Movies and the media have generated misconceptions about pretty much everything and people fall for them everyday. So, how could we really know if anything portrayed in the media is the real thing? To answer the question, we really can’t prove the information given to us is real. As Plato speculates, “that education is not in reality what some people proclaim it to be in their professions. What they aver is that they can put true knowledge into a soul that does not possess it, as if they were inserting vision into blind eyes” (750).

When a person debates a new understanding, is the realization coming from a view that has been concealed by darkness, or has the person been blinded by a brighter vision? Plato asks the question of knowing what is the physical world, and, is it reality? I think deception is real, and that people are often mislead by the media, but I don’t think that it’s possible to have an entire world be a complete illusion. Yes, the physical world might not make sense sometimes, but the unknown isn’t automatically a false belief or idea.

For me, the Allegory of the Cave refers more so to information and knowledge, and whether a person is exposed to it or not. Being in the cave is like being hidden from the truth of knowledge and when the people see the shadows it is like only seeing a fraction of the truth. Until the person steps out of the cave, they will only see the reflection of what is real. I think Plato is really trying to emphasize the power of information and how it can deceive those who aren’t looking for the whole truth.

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