Classical Philosophy (A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps #1)

by Peter S. Adamson

the allegory of the cave is extremely concrete. We are to imagine a group of prisoners chained at the bottom of a cave. Behind and above them is a low wall, and beyond that a fire (514a–b). There are more people just behind the wall, carrying statues. Thanks to the firelight, these statues cast shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners (514b). The unfortunate prisoners can see nothing but these shadows, and hear nothing but the echoing noises made by the people walking along carrying the statues. They are radically removed from reality, because they see nothing but shadows of things that aren’t even real, namely the statues. They engage in pointless games which, in their ignorance, they take to be deathly serious—but all they are in fact doing is competing to predict and identify shadows.