Mudasser hossain Shakil

In the theory of knowledge, Plato asks us to imagine some people living in the cave from their childhood. They are shackled, not able to move around. The entrance of the cave is behind them, and what they see is the wall in front of them. There is a fireplace near the outside of the cave, people are walking with some object including the figures of animals, and various materials. The chained prisoners only see, towards the wall, the shadow of those objects. They can see neither the walking people nor the objects nor fireplace behind them nor the light of the outside world. They think, however, the shadows which they see is the truth, is the reality. When they see a shadow and hear someone’s voice they assumed the sound is comming from the shadow.

What would happen, He asks, if one of these prisoners were liberated from his chains, were dictated to stand up, and walk with eyes lifted up toward the light of the fire? Would he find these actual object less pleasing, less meaningful, than the shadow?

One who is accustomed to see the shadow of object from his childhood will find the light of the sun more unbearable to his eyes. If the prisoner could not turn back to the cave, light of the sun upon his eyes would be very painful as he only have seen those as shadow. He can see, afterwards, the objcets reflection in the water, it would be relaxing to his eyes, and can see the real color of the object, like flowers petels, in the water. And gradually the liberated prisoner will experience that the sun is what makes thing visible. Now he would realise that what he and his fellow prisoners saw before was not real, without the sun nothing would be visible. Everything is clear to his eyes and he accustomed to this visible world.
But if he return, tell those chained prisoners the truth of actual objects of the shadow, to the cave, They would not believe that word. What they only believe is that the shadow is the truth of actual objects, and would laugh at his thoughts.
However, if the educated prisoner try to lead them free from the darkness of the cave, they would kill him. Illiterate people think that what they know and what they believe is the only right. So, educated people do not adjust with those illiterate people whose hearts filled with darkness.

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