Plato

1 card

1. 01

   People chained in a cave, seeing only shadows on a wall, might mistake the shadows for real things — just as we sometimes mistake appearance for truth.

   The Republic

   Shadows in the cave are taken as reality, yet truth lies beyond them

   Plato imagines people chained in a dark cave since childhood, seeing only shadows cast by a fire behind them. For them, the shadows are the only reality they know. If one escaped outside into sunlight, they would be blinded at first, then realize how limited their old world truly was.

   “They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave.”

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