Oh I read this in my A.P. class... it's a really interesting concept... could you say it's related to evolution, growing as a race? I guess thats how most would read it... I originally thought it was about slavery... but realized that was too generic... I guess if you think of slavery as metaphoric... I don't know, Plato's mind is baffling.

I have to admit myself that this is pretty much the only thing in the entirety of Plato's The Republic that i agree with. other than this he can stick the rest of this up his arse.

Until just now I'd never read much about philosiphy... I barely even knew who Plato was. But damn, that guy was smart! I didn't disagree with any part of that writing. I wish I could think of stuff like that

It has been a little while since I have read "Allegory of the Cave," but it remains amongst my favorite works of Plato. I think it is true that there is a need for philosophers in governing positions. Those who are wise will rule best, but those who lust for power are the rulers who rule most common.

This work in particular is actually what persuaded me to change my major from Pre-Med to Pre-Law. I hope to go back into the cave someday and do my best to lead the others out into the light.

___It might be hard to understand "The Allegory . . ." today because Plato has an understanding of "good" that may not be exactly the same as ours . We live in a world that is transitioning from modern to postmodern . The society at large is in the process of doing away with the notions of "ultimate good" and "heaven" and "God" . Furthermore, American society more or less has the notion that "freedom" is the ultimate good . In Plato's day, the ultimate good might have been seen to be "peace" or "health" or "happiness" or "wisdom" . The idea of "autonomy" takes prescedence over a lot of things in society, today, even in light of the very recent and current tendency towards compromising that virtue for the sake of Homeland Security . In many instances in "The Allegory . . .", it might be useful to replace "good" with "truth", or "welfare", or "prosperity", etc.
___As for what I think of it . . . well . . . who the hell am I to disagree with Socrates ? I think what Socrates says makes perfect sense . If the men who didn't want to run for public office were elected, we might have a better country, because those men have "seen the Sun", or at least have seen more "daylight" than most of the politicians I've seen and heard on television . It's just that nowadays, those men who know what is right refuse to go back down "into the cave" of human, political affairs .
___I think the reason for this is capitalism . Capitalism rewards men who live "in the cave" and punishes men who "act ridiculous" in the realm of base human affairs because they've seen the light .

It seems like a very possible theory.

Also, it reminds me of how if you're blind, you would never be able to fathom sight, let alone color, and if you're deaf, you'd never be able to fathom sound, let alone music.

It makes me wonder: there could be another sense out there, but we'd never be able to imagine it.

But I'm getting off the subject.

I don't really know if Plato's theory could be true. But then again, I didn't read the whole thing. I'm in a lazy mood.