Plato Essay (1st paragraph)

Plato was a famous philosopher and the “student”of another famous philosopher, Socrates. In one of Plato’s most famous pieces, The Allegory of the Cave, he uses allegory to illustrate his views on the different levels of reality. The main point of this allegory is to demonstrate the levels of reality in Plato’s metaphysics. His allegory’s purpose is to teach us that to fully understand ultimate reality, we must understand these basic forms; The sun represents our peak nonphysical, objective ideas i.e. justice, goodness, beauty and trust. The objects above ground represents true forms such as shape, color, and size, and by true forms he is referring to the true thought of a circle, for instance, is only it is an idea. We are unable to view a true circle, only replicas of one, who is to say what a circle really is? The objects below ground represent material objects that usually represent other forms. Finally, the shadows on the wall represent illusions, for example the shadow of a circle, which is just an appearance and not true reality. Initially, Plato’s views on the levels of reality appear to be complex and confusing, but once broken down into individual ideas, it becomes much clearer, which is ultimately the whole purpose of his Allegory of the Cave.