Plato's Allegory of the Cave

By Shah Muhammad, Ghotki

Allegory of the cave, also called myth of the cave, was presented by Greek philosopher Plato in his acclaimed work "Republic." It describes a hypothetical scenario which sheds light on the effects of intellectual slavery on human mind. 

It describes a cave in which some people are trapped with their hands and feet tied since their birth. Their heads are also tied in such a way that they keep looking straight at only one wall of the cave. Behind them is the opening/mouth of the cave. There is a fire outside the cave and some people, holding objects, are moving between fire and them in such a way that their shadows fall on the wall of the cave that the imprisoned people are looking at since their birth. 

Those bounded people have accepted the idea that these shadows are the only reality and this is the only truth because they have spent their lives just looking at those flickering shadows; they have never seen the real world that lies outside the cave. One day, one of them manages to free himself from his chains and turns back. 

He rushes outside the cave and is startled to see the real world and the real truth that lies outside the cave. He thinks now he is responsible to free his other fellows from the chains and convince them that they had been deceived all their life and that actual reality lies outside. When he goes inside the cave to tries to convince them about the reality, the prisoners ridicule him and refuse to believe him. They have become so used to the fake reality of the shadows that they vehemently reject the notion of actual reality, and refuse to go outside the cave. 

Plato's Allegory of the cave is a magnificent allegory and speaks volumes about human mind and social behavior under intellectual bondage of modern times. Relating this Allegory to our society today, the prisoners of cave represent majority of people who have been deprived of intellectual freedom, free thinking and socio-political awareness. The shadows on the cave correspond to the "fake reality" that our nation has been fed through education system, media and other social institutions. They only believe what is told to them through official narrative and never use reason and independent thinking to approach the actual truth. 

 They have become so comfortable with this fake reality, outdated customs and social norms that they cannot even feel the shackles that have strangled their minds. The freed prisoner of the cave reflects an inquisitive, aware and critical person who is snubbed and silenced by our society today whenever he tries to question prevailing norms and informs people of actual truth. 

People in our society are literally living in Plato's cave and their minds have lost the capability to question and think, surrendering themselves to the fate of intellectual bondage imposed by the system. It is the responsibility of the awake, inquisitive and critical people in our society to organize themselves under a collective ideological struggle for political and socio-economic change; a change that will free people from the cave of intellectual bondage, poverty and injustice.