Platos Parable of the Cave
In the Parable of the Cave, Plato relates that if one of the prisoners were allowed to leave the cave he would realize the shadows are but dark reflections of a more complex reality, and that the known perceptions of his fellow cave dwellers are distorted and flawed. The parable speaks to the role of education, which is depicted by the sun. ... The cave dwellers remain literally and figuratively in the dark, as they are not looking in the right direction. ... In fact, the prisoner should do everything within his power not return to the darkness of the cave. ... He would now look at the shadows on the cave’s wall with reflective understanding. The cave dwellers would think that the shadows were real, while the prisoner would understand the real cause of the shadows.