Plato

Plato (427–347 B.C.) lived and taught philosophy in ancient Athens. In the following viewpoint, Plato asks his audience to imagine prisoners living in a cave. The people face a wall where shadows of various objects dance back and forth. The prisoners cannot turn their heads to discover the true nature of the shadows. Further, the prisoners cannot leave the cave to discover what the reality creating the shadows is like. Plato uses this story to illustrate his belief that we are trapped by our imperfect, subjective impressions of the world. Plato believes that people too quickly accept the first appearance of things. What people experience as reality is really a distorted reflection, or shadow, of the true reality. Plato believed that humans (in the present life) will never completely understand the world. Thus, Plato...