The Myth of the Cave

In this paper, I will be discussing The Myth of the Cave by Plato and how it relates to society today. I will also talk about social isolation and compare it to the cave.

The Myth of the Cave is one of Plato’s most important works in The Republic; where he portrays prisoners, who spent their live chained in a cave where they face the back wall. The prisoners aren’t allowed to see anything else but only the shadows on the cave wall (Palmer, 2013, p.61). Plato wanted Socrates to form in his mind the image of the prisoners in the cave chained and the only thing that they can see is the fire causing shadows to appear on the wall. There is a barrier between the prisoners and fire which is used by people to carry vases, statues, and other objects which cause the prisoners to hear echoes of voice’s and see shadows of the objects which they make a correlation and mistake the noises for reality (Palmer, 2013, p.61).

If one of the prisoners were unchained and forced to look at what was causing the shadows it would cause them to feel pain in their eyes because they weren’t used to look at the fire directly; the prisoner would rather the shadows (Palmer, 2013, p.61-62). If that same prisoner was to go outside the sun it would be too bright for him since all he was used to was shadows in the dark cave, the light would blind him. The prisoner would have to look around to find something that would have a shadow; for example: trees and mountains which would make him get accustomed to the sunlight and he would reach enlightenment; meaning he would understand and become educated on the true forms, shapes, and reality of life. If the prisoner was to return to the cave, he would see sunspots wherever he looked since he just came back from the looking directly at the sun and he wasn’t used to it, his eye needs to adjust back to looking at the darkness inside the cave. The prisoner would try to free the rest of the prisoners because he feels sorry for them and wants to help but they would get irritated since he disturbed their peaceful illusions and the prisoners would kill him, which is in reference the death of Socrates (Palmer, 2013, p. 63).

The moral that Plato wanted people to learn from The Myth of the Cave is that to understand something, someone must have the knowledge and education to expand on from what they see, hear on their own. The Myth of the Cave explains the imagined reality that someone may think is real versus the reality that is true. In the myth the shadows are considered the imaginary reality and outside of the cave is the reality of truth that was discovered when the prisoner was forced to go outside.

In society today, The Cave can be looked as how people believe that money, education, fame, and love are everything in life since from a young age that’s what is taught and learned. The one prisoner that escaped can be compared to the handful of people who act and think differently from everyone else in society. They step out of their comfort zone to uncover the true reality of life which makes them expand on what was learned.

Social isolation is defined by psychologist and sociologists as a person’s lack of social contact and relationships with other people, and they lack having people who can confide in (García, 2019). Being social isolated is an involuntary choice meaning that they didn’t choose to not have contact and relationships with other people. A prolonged lack of social contact with others can cause consequences like low self-esteem, depression, feelings of hopelessness, and a loss of interest in life (Garcia, 2019).

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