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Allegory of the cave

Plato's allegory of the cave is an allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a, Book VII) to compare "the effect of education (παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates and is narrated by the latter. The allegory is presented after the analogy of the Sun (508b–509c) and the analogy of the divided line (509d–511e).

In the allegory, Plato describes people that have spent their lives chained in a cave facing a blank wall. They watch shadows projected onto the wall by objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and they give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners' reality but not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent the fragment of reality that we can normally perceive through our senses, while the objects under the sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason. Three higher levels exist: natural science; deductive mathematics, geometry, and logic; and the theory of forms.


Socrates explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are actually not the direct source of the images seen. A philosopher aims to understand and perceive the higher levels of reality. However, the other inmates of the cave do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life.[1]


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

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

The allegory is related to Plato's theory of Forms, according to which the "Forms" (or "Ideas"), and not the material world known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality. Knowledge of the Forms constitutes real knowledge or what Socrates considers "the Good".[6] Socrates informs Glaucon that the most excellent people must follow the highest of all studies, which is to behold the Good. Those who have ascended to this highest level, however, must not remain there but must return to the cave and dwell with the prisoners, sharing in their labors and honors.


Plato's Phaedo contains similar imagery to that of the allegory of the cave; a philosopher recognizes that before philosophy, his soul was "a veritable prisoner fast bound within his body... and that instead of investigating reality of itself and in itself is compelled to peer through the bars of a prison."[7]

used the term "Idols of the Cave" to refer to errors of reason arising from the idiosyncratic biases and preoccupations of individuals.

Francis Bacon

In his 1658 discourse, , Thomas Browne states: "A Dialogue between two Infants in the womb concerning the state of this world, might handsomely illustrate our ignorance of the next, whereof methinks we yet discourse in Platoes denne, and are but Embryon Philosophers".

Urn Burial

Evolutionary biologist 's book A Species In Denial includes the chapter "Deciphering Plato's Cave Allegory".[16]

Jeremy Griffith

Eckert, Maureen (2012). . Glimpse Journal. 9: 42–49.

"Cinematic Spelunking Inside Plato's Cave"

Kim, A. (2004). "Shades of Truth: Phenomenological Perspectives on the Allegory of the Cave". Idealistic Studies. 34 (1): 1–24. :10.5840/idstudies200434118. INIST 16811501.

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LeMoine, Rebecca (2020). Plato's Caves: The Liberating Sting of Cultural Diversity. Oxford UP. :10.1093/oso/9780190936983.001.0001.

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Malcolm, J. (May 1981). "The Cave Revisited". The Classical Quarterly. 31 (1): 60–68. :10.1017/S0009838800021078. S2CID 170697508.

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McNeill, William (5 January 2003). . 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"

Mitta, Dimitra (1 January 2003). . Kernos (16): 133–141. doi:10.4000/kernos.815.

"Reading Platonic Myths from a Ritualistic Point of View: Gyges' Ring and the Cave Allegory"

Murphy, N. R. (April 1932). "The 'Simile Of Light' in Plato's Republic". The Classical Quarterly. 26 (2): 93–102. :10.1017/S0009838800002366. S2CID 170223655.

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Tsabar, Boaz (1 January 2014). "'Poverty and Resourcefulness': On the Formative Significance of Eros in Educational Practice". Studies in Philosophy and Education. 33 (1): 75–87. :10.1007/s11217-013-9364-5. S2CID 144408538.

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Zamosc, Gabriel (2017). . Ideas y Valores. 66 (165). doi:10.15446/ideasyvalores.v66n165.55201. ProQuest 1994433580.

"The Political Significance of Plato's Allegory of the Cave"

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:

at PhilPapers

Allegory of the cave

Animated interpretation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Ted-ed: Plato's Allegory of the Cave

at Project Gutenberg

Plato: The Republic, Book VII

at University of Washington – Faculty

Plato: The Allegory of the Cave, from The Republic

at Shippensburg University

Plato: Book VII of The Republic, Allegory of the Cave