The Allegory of the Cave speaks directly to truth and
reality. Socrates is teaching Glaucon about the ignorance people live in and
the difficulty of learning the truth. According to his allegory, Socrates
compares it to the pain of sunlight hitting your eyes once you leave the
darkness of the cave. In the end the truth is worthwhile, but it takes time to
adjust to, as Socrates explains, “And first he will see the shadows best, next
the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves…”
The Allegory creates a division between reality and truth, what I take away
from Socrates lesson is that they are not on in the same. A reality is what
surrounds you and is what you believe. The dark cave where the chained men are
is a reality. Although to the student it is clear the shadows are not real,
rather illusions to the chained men they are the truth because it is all they
see and all they can believe in, therefore making it a reality. In the
allegory, the truth or the light removes the student from this reality. The
reality is broken apart by the truth because when a man is free from the chains
and darkness by seeing and adjusting to the light he is then able to see the
shadows were just illusions and can now see and even touch the real thing. In
the case of the allegory, reality and truth are different because reality is
not necessarily true it is what one takes away from their surroundings whereas
the truth can break apart this reality by showing what is false about it,
therefore creating a new reality.
