Why do the prisoners in the cave mistake appearance for reality?

Please read the excerpt from Plato’s The Republic called “The Allegory of the Cave” (the link is available in this week’s readings), as well as the section in your textbook on Greek philosophy (Chapter 2, pp. 64–67 “Philosophy and the Polis” through “Plato’s Republic and Idealism”). Using what you’ve learned in these excerpts as well as in this week’s lesson about philosophy, please use the questions in the Reflection Assignment Sheet to help you decide what you think Plato was arguing about independent thought and how we can trust what we know to be truth.

This two-page essay should be submitted in APA format, avoid plagiarism, and offer some insight into what you’ve learned! Please refer to the Week 1 Reflection Assignment Sheet (Links to an external site.) to answer the prewriting questions and then to compose your essay.

Video: Here is a resource to help you start delving into Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” (Book VII of The Republic):

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Week 1 Reflection Assignment: The Search for Truth

Please answer these prewriting questions in complete sentences (the more you write, the better your ideas will be for the essay portion!):

Why do the prisoners in the cave mistake appearance for reality?

Why is it so painful for the freed prisoner to venture first past the fire and then out into the sunlight? Is the pain worth it? Why?

Why might some prisoners, having been exposed to the outside world, choose to return to their shackled lives in the cave?

Why might the remaining prisoners kill the prisoner who returns to free them?

Take your answers to these questions and apply them to life and truth today. Are there any metaphorical “prisoners” in modern life?

The Assignment: Now that you have a deeper understanding of the text, please write a two-page essay on the topic How Can We Trust What We Think We Know? Use examples from the “Allegory of the Cave” to support your answer. Please write your essay below and submit your answers to the prewriting questions as well as the essay in one Word document to Canvas.