Okuzeka
Philosophy vocabulary · Key Thinkers' Concepts

Allegory of the cave

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

nounCommon term

In philosophy, allegory of the cave means: Plato's story in the Republic of prisoners who see only shadows on a cave wall, used to show how education leads the mind from appearances to true reality.

In Turkish: mağara alegorisi, mağara benzetmesi

How it is used

Found in Book VII of the Republic. The shadows stand for appearances, the sun for the Form of the Good, and the freed prisoner who goes back down for the philosopher. A favorite topic in introductory lectures and essays.

Example sentences

  1. In the allegory of the cave, the prisoners mistake shadows for real things.

  2. Many films borrow from the allegory of the cave to question what is real.

Common collocations

  • Plato's allegory of the cave
  • the cave allegory
  • leave the cave
  • shadows on the wall
  • theory of FormsPlato's theory that beyond the changing physical world there are perfect, eternal and unchanging Forms, such as Beauty or Justice itself, which things only imperfectly copy.
  • idealismThe metaphysical view that reality is fundamentally mental or depends on minds, so that no world exists entirely independent of thought or experience.
  • knowledgeKnowing that something is the case; traditionally defined as a belief that is true and properly justified, although this definition is disputed.
  • essenceThe set of properties that make a thing what it is, without which it would not be that kind of thing at all.

More terms: Key Thinkers' Concepts

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: