Revision of blog # 4: "The Allegory of the Cave"

Summary of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”


In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Socrates while illustrating Glaucon his young disciple: “And now let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened”. Socrates starts telling a story about human beings living underground  in the most miserable conditions since their childhood without seeing the sunlight and have not possibility of standing up and walk, they didn’t even seen each other or the people who used to walk around the place, they just hear the voices behind them.  In my opinion Socrates was trying to prepare his follower for one of the inconveniences that later on he should experience as the mentor he will become.

With this story, the Master was also trying to teach his young apprentice the nature of humans; how should humans reacts facing new realities and new possibilities, Socrates highlight the moment when at first one of the prisoners got released of his prison and besides discovering that everything they used to belief of things was completely wrong, and after returning back to his den and realizing  that looking at the outside of the cave, the sunlight made him miss his anterior ability of guessing things as his fellows still do, and didn’t it make him look in disadvantage
according to them? because after all, they should be thinking they better never go out and miss what for them, who never saw the real world, is their only truly real world. Therefore, they possibly couldn’t be grateful to anybody who attempt to take them to the light.


My Place in the Cave.
It is not easy for human beings to sacrifice comfort and freedom in the name of Knowledge, since all who did try missed furthermore their freedom, some of them their life.  After reading Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I can only say that I’m in the most difficult stage of the getting out of the cave process, which is to accept that I really need to live the cave and look for some other possibilities, on the way of improving myself as a person, and at the same time mine and my daughter’s quality of life which has become my  biggest challenge. I’m aware there is a long way from now on, besides to give up to my restfulness or informality on the way to get good grades and finally a Degree.