We have all heard about Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave.” It was required reading when I went to college. The allegory describes a group of prisoners in a dark cave, chained to a wall. They are positioned so that they are incapable of turning their gaze. There is a parapet behind them, and the room is backlit by fire. As people and objects traverse the parapet, the prisoners identify and name the shadows of objects appearing on the wall before them but are never able to see the actual objects casting the shadows.
What are the philosophical questions that give rise to naming an object only by an indirect observation of its physical properties? Can we ever draw concrete conclusions about what we perceive? Does the indirect perception of an object have true meaning and can that perception ever provide as much meaning as physically grasping and manipulating the object firsthand?
How would the prisoners react if they were to suddenly discover nothing they knew had been rooted in objective reality?
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