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Brian Justis
Ms. Maya Alapin
English 120-021
18 September 2014
Plato on Education: A Self-Driven Quest
Change is often a trial for humanity. While many would embrace with open arms the new
and uncertain, still many others choose willingly to live as they have always lived, comforted by
the old and familiar. In this sense, adaptation requires a strong will and desire. Platos allegory of
the Cave offers this human trait in relation to the individuals thirst for knowledge and
receptiveness to learning. He suggests that education requires not necessarily a teacher, but
certainly a drive and an open mind; everyone has the ability to learn and adapt, but only those
who seek it and press on through the trials can truly succeed.
Platos allegory opens on a scene of prisoners bound in place, view fixated on an
obscured version of the world around them. The only figures they see are distorted shadows of
passers-by, and all sound heard is disembodied echo (Plato 175). Plato asks, Do you think such
prisoners would ever see anything of themselves or each other except their shadows thrown by
the fire on the facing wall of the cave? (175) Michael Ramseys The Cave: An Adaptation of
Platos Allegory in Clay offers a detailed visualization of this scene. In this work we can clearly
see Platos intricate description of his cave, allowing for a thorough understanding of the
metaphor. They are chained in a line, in front of a fire they cannot see, casting images on the
wall directly ahead of them (Ramsey). Here the audience is introduced to Platos symbolic cast:
humans, very like the readers, prior to any form of education.
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When these same prisoners are freed, by means left ambiguous by Plato, they are first
hypothesized to remain skeptical of their new surroundings (Plato 176). They have known
nothing else, so how should they be expected to absorb this foreign world? Plato continues,
Suppose someone forcibly dragged him out of there, up that steep, rugged incline, and didnt let
go till he dragged him clear out to the light of the sun. Wouldnt such treatment pain and outrage
him, and the beams fill his eyes and make him unable to see any of the things that now are called
true? (176) This sudden pain is meant to represent the shock of unexpected information. This
passage is also cautionary; to expose a person to a wealth of information they are not prepared to
receive may only leave them longing for the comfortable ignorance they have left behind.
Once the freed prisoners have been allowed time to digest and fathom their new
surroundings, Plato suggests that they likely will desire friends to share this with. Running back
to their cellmates, they are met with the same ignorant minds they once shared (Plato 177).
What, then, are they to do? Plato predicts these newly enlightened souls would revert back to
their ignorant selves, relishing the ease and comfort of their former lives (Plato 177).
Certainly Platos allegory represents, on a basic level, the redirection and restructuring of
a persons view of the world around them. As Peter Losin states in Education and Platos
Parable of the Cave, Part of Platonic education, then, consists in reorienting this neutral
capacity of intelligence, directing it away from one sort of object and towards another (52).
However, this only scratches the surface of the Cave; consider: If he again went down and sat
down in his old place, wouldnt darkness fill his eyes after suddenly coming in from the sun?
(Plato 177) Losin continues, This persons desires, at least as much as his intelligence, account
for his condition (52). To continue his education, one must not succumb to the ignorance he
began with. To return to the cave is to forgo the knowledge gained.
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Dale Hall, in his essay Interpreting Platos Cave as an Allegory of the Human
Condition, takes this concept even a bit further; he writes, Recognizing ourselves within the
cave, we realize that our illusions of success and failure and change are as insubstantial as
shadows, for in its timeless circumstances we see stilled the motion of our lives (84). According
to Hall, the very shadows seen in Platos opening image represent the intangibility of that which
the prisoners later seek out. Is there even purpose in intellectual freedom?
Platos allegory strives not just to assess the process of education, but beckons the
audience to consider the human condition as well. Mankind is susceptible to distractions,
diversions, and insecurities, many of which would lead one down branching paths if not avoided.
Education is not merely a final point on a checklist; learning requires work and focus to
maintain, through both the process and the result. Plato has unveiled the path to enlightenment.
One only needs to climb out of the cave, never to return again.











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Works Cited
Hall, Dale. Interpreting Platos Cave as an Allegory of the Human Condition. Apeiron: A
Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science. 14.2 (Dec. 1980): p74-86. JSTOR. Web. 18
Sept. 2014.
Losin, Peter. Education and Platos Parable of the Cave. Journal of Education. 178.3 (1996):
p49. 17p. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Michael Ramsey. The Cave: An Adaptation of Platos Allegory in Clay. YouTube. Bullhead
Entertainment, 18 Apr. 2008. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.
Plato. Book 7. The Republic. Ed. Raymond Larson. Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1979.
174-183. Print.