Plato's Allegory of the Cave

The allegory of the cave is an excerpt from the Republic, written by Plato around 380 BC.
380 BC.....! (Whatever happened to Plato's philosopher kings?)

It is written in form of a dialogue.

There is also a simple but nice animation, supposedly narrated by Orson Welles.

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Socrates
And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is  enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a  underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching  all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have  their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see  before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their  heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and  between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will  see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which  marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the  puppets. 

Glaucon
I see.  

Socrates
And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all  sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and  stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them  are talking, others silent.  

Glaucon
You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.  

Socrates
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or  the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall  of the cave? 

Glaucon
True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?  

Socrates
And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?  

Glaucon
Yes, he said.  

Socrates
And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?  

Glaucon
Very true.  

Socrates
And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the  other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by  spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow? 

Glaucon
No question, he replied.  

Socrates
To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.  

Glaucon
That is certain.  

Socrates
And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the  prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any  of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his  neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp  pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the  realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then  conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an  illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his  eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision,  -what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor  is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them,  - will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he  formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?  

Glaucon
Far truer.  

Socrates
And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not  have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and take  in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to  be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?  

Glaucon
True, he said.  

Socrates
And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and  rugged ascent, and held fast until he 's forced into the presence of  the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he  approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able  to see anything at all of what are now called realities.  

Glaucon
Not all in a moment, he said.  

Socrates
He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world.  And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and  other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he  will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled  heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the  sun or the light of the sun by day? 

Glaucon
Certainly.  

Socrates
Last of he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of  him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not  in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.  

Glaucon
Certainly.  

Socrates
He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season  and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world,  and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows  have been accustomed to behold?  

Glaucon
Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him.  

Socrates
And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den  and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate  himself on the change, and pity them?  

Glaucon
Certainly, he would.  

Socrates
And if they were in the habit of conferring honours among themselves  on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark  which of them went before, and which followed after, and which were  together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as to the  future, do you think that he would care for such honours and glories,  or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with Homer,
Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure  anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner?  

Glaucon
Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner.  

Socrates
Imagine once more, I said, such an one coming suddenly out of the  sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have  his eyes full of darkness?  

Glaucon
To be sure, he said.  

Socrates
And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the  shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the den, while his  sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the  time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be  very considerable) would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that  up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better  not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another  and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they  would put him to death.  

Glaucon
No question, he said.  

Socrates
This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to  the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light  of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you  interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the  intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I  have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true  or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good  appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is  also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and  right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world,  and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and  that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in  public or private life must have his eye fixed.