Define Allegory of cave.
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The Allegory of the Cave is a philosophical metaphor presented by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in Book VII of his work, "The Republic." In this allegory, Plato uses the metaphor of prisoners in a cave to illustrate his theory of forms and the nature of human perception.
The cave represents the world as perceived by those who rely solely on their senses, trapped in ignorance and chained to the illusions of the material world. The prisoners, facing the cave wall, see only shadows cast by objects behind them, believing these shadows to be the ultimate reality.
The allegory takes a transformative turn when a prisoner is freed and exposed to the outside world. Initially, the liberated individual is blinded by the sunlight but gradually comes to understand the true nature of reality and the existence of a higher realm of Forms.
Plato uses the Allegory of the Cave to illustrate his philosophical beliefs about the distinction between the world of appearances and the world of eternal, unchanging Forms. The journey of the freed prisoner symbolizes the philosopher's ascent toward intellectual enlightenment and the apprehension of higher truths beyond the deceptive realm of sensory perception.