Blog#5: Summary of Allegory of the Cave (The Republic)

     According to the excerpt from The Republic by Plato, knowledge may come with consequences and people would rather be ignorant by sticking with what they know. Plato also states that the idea of good is always last. In this excerpt, Socrates tells a story to Glaucon about men chained in caves. These men were not able to look left or right, only straight. By looking straight ahead, all they were able to see were shadows cast by a fire.

      A man decides to leave the cave and he realizes that the fire was not actually fire, but it was the sun. His eyes were in pain for looking at the sun and became weak. This would be referring to the consequence. Now because of this, the men in the cave will pass on stories as to why no one should ever leave the cave because when they return, they will have lost their eyes. Here the men are now stating that nothing good can come from leaving the cave.