1 Tale of the cave The tale of the cave also known as the allegory of the cave is one of the tales that Plato uses to explain the nature of reality. The cave is used to represent the life which most of the human beings are living today while the dramatic exit from the cave represents the source of a true understanding. Plato called this the philosophy of reality. Inside the cave, there are prisoners who are chained such that they are unable to move their heads. For this reason, they can only see what is directly in front of them and nothing more. In the tale, the writer uses the cave to symbolize the physical world or the society that exist today. In this world, there are so many things that are going on than even people think they know. Whatever people see isn’t what it seems to be and they just believe it because that is what they are made to see. When the prisoner is exposed to the outside of the cave, Plato calls that the world of ideas and thoughts which brings about reality. In the contemporary society, there are so many things that people look at and tend to believe them because they are what they are tied to believe and so they live perceiving everything. Throughout the story, there are people who were using the walkway and were carrying objects. Plato uses these people to represent the today’s world authorities. Among them is the government, religious leaders, the media, teachers and so many others. These are the people that run the world as they can influence their subjects either negatively or positively. The media for example is the voice of everyone in the society. They broadcast news from all over the country. For this reason, people’s beliefs, opinions and their attitudes is manipulated on what the media says. The government on the hand makes rules and everything it comes up with must be followed. The subjects have no otherwise but to follow everything blindly since an attempt of being radical will be going against the law. Teachers also tend to know what is best for their 2 students and that is why the person who forced the prisoner out of the cave is considered the teacher. The person thought that it was best for the prisoner to go out and learn something new which he knew was best for him. When the writer says that at some point the prisoners could start playing a game to see who had a sharp mind to remember what shadow will come next, he wanted to bring out the roles people desire to play in the world. There are individuals who desire to lead others while others remain to be subjects. In the tale, the people who would get the answer right were like masters in today’s world who think they are always right. The writer uses this allegory to describe the characteristic of an ideal state. When all the prisoners are inside the cave that is an ideal state since everyone is equal in terms of knowledge and no one is considered superior or inferior. There is free flow of knowledge and truth as well as justice. This is clearly seen when all the prisoners are in the cave but immediately changes when one of the prisoner goes outside and comes back with a different experience. The ideal state changes to be a state full of conflicts and endless arguments. In the contemporary world, this happens every time and the conflicts can emanate from different aspects of life. Disagreements and differences in life experiences is the main cause of conflict but Plato advocates for an ideal state which sees every individual as equal. The cave in this case represent the society and the prisoners are people in it. There is so much that is going on in the society that people are not aware of. By Plato going back to this story, he wanted to bring enlightenment to some of the ignorant individual in the society. Plato went back to give people some teachings he feels they need to know about. According to him, just like a midwife doesn’t give birth for the subjects but coach, the teacher as well has to guide his students in learning and seeing the truth where seems to be no truth. The prisoner who was 3 freed to see the sunlight is the student and because he had the desire to learn new things, he could at the end despite the painful experience. Plato teaches that one should have self- drive and persistence to find out what they are looking for. The people therefore need to learn that learning and education is personal journey. The teacher only is there to guide you. Also, the philosophers go back to the cave to teach on the different levels of human awareness which ascend from the sense perception to one’s rational knowledge and finally to the highest knowledge of good. The philosophers talk to the people about ignorance and its side effects. The prisoners showed the quality of ignorance when they wanted to depend on only what they are made to see. They are made aware of the existence of politicians, the media and other people in the society who influence the thinking of others. The philosophers wanted to teach people that everything they see or hear isn’t necessarily the truth and people need to think for themselves. Finally, the philosophers go back to the cave to teach about how rulers and their powers should behave. According to Plato, rulers need to understand that they are supported to serve and not to impose powers to their subjects. The game in the tale is all about who should be a master and who should be the subject. The philosophers therefore had to teach these people that despite the powers endowed to them, they should not mistreat others but treat them with respect