Plato's Cave
Plato
The Allegory of the Cave
Allegory:
When physical objects are used to represent ideas/beliefs in order to make them easier to understand.
Look at the world around you, what is the world like?
​
Now...
-
Close your eyes.
-
Cover your ears.
What is the world like now?
How do you feel?
Imagine...
Task 1
Watch through the video describing Plato's Cave and sum it up in your own words.
​
You might need to watch it twice.
Task 2
Draw and finish labelling Plato's Cave.
Task 3
-
What is this?
-
How do you know what this is?
-
How confident are you about this?
-
Would you be more confident if we were not discussing if this reality was real?
-
Hover over the image to reveal what it actually is.
Reality
Our senses can be easily deceived.
We might have a fixed perception on what reality is, but this can often be completely mistaken.
Task 4
Read through the different perceptions of the world below and answer the questions.
Dog
Imagine that you are a dog.
Your eyes are not as reliable anymore, everything is in black and white.
Due to this your main source of information comes from your nose.
You recognised different people, animals and things based on their smell.
​
Would your idea of what the world was like be any different?
Worm
Now imagine you are a worm.
​
You do not have any eyes, but gather information about your surroundings based on the vibrations you feel from things moving.
​
​
​
​
Would your idea of reality be any different?
Task 5
Some animals perceive colours in such different ways that eve the 'usual' colour red is not red for them at all.
​
Does this make their idea of the world any different? Give at least 1 detailed reason for your answer.
Task 6
Which animal do you think has the most accurate idea of reality?
-
Dog
-
Bat
-
Worm
Write dow your answer and include at least on detailed reason for your answer
Optional Challenge
Describe the different perceptions to someone and record who they think has the most accurate idea of reality AND why.
Optional Challenge
Is there a difference between what we experience and what is real?
Give at least one reason for your answer.
Task 7
We may have better vision than these animals, but we can never smell like a dog, detect our surroundings like a bat, or feel movement like a worm.
​
Does this mean that none of us are really experiencing the 'real' world?
​
Give at least one reason fro your answer.
Task 8
According to Plato's Cave, we need to experience reality ourselves to know our current one is false.
​
Is this true?
Can we understand something without ever experiencing it?
​
-
Think of an experience, good or bad.
-
Try to explain it to a friend or family member. Try to get them to feel exactly how you felt at that time.
-
Aim: they should feel like they have really been there/experienced it themselves, exactly as you did.
​
How did you do? Was it easy or hard? Did they full understand and feel exactly what you felt?
Optional Challenge
Imagine you have met somebody for the first time who has been blind since birth.
​
How would you explain what blue is to them?
​
Why could this be difficult to do?
Task 9
Rate your reality.
​
On a scale fo 1 to 10 rate how accurate your experience of the world is.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Do we experience the world exactly how it is? Give at least one reason for your answer.
0
Completely
inaccurate
5
Fairly
accurate
10
My idea
of reality
is
flawless