Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and Ideal State

Paper Summary:

This paper gives a vivid picture about Plato?s "Allegory of the Cave" from his book of "Republic". It examines his contention of Ideal Rule with reference to his "Allegory of the Cave" and also the various considerations that are considered necessary to build an ideal state. It looks at how the "Republic" of Plato is considered a treatise on how to lead life in personal, professional, and social circumstances and how the ideals that he mentions in his work have their limitations in becoming practical. In this paper, the emphasis is kept on the simile of the cave suggested by Plato, and the Ideal Rule is explained in relation to this allegory.

From the Paper:

"Plato compares the fire in the cave to that of the sun's power. The journey that the prisoner takes from the cave into the light of the sun stand to signify the journey of the soul to the intelligent realm. Here he makes the sun stand to represent all that is good, and the source of all goodness or the summum bonum or the greatest good thereby indicating that reaching goodness is the ultimate goal of knowledge. He feels that we have not completed our journey until we accept it. The journey is not complete until we have arrived here. He feels that an individual who has seen the sun cannot pretend to like it as he has not done so."

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