Plato's Cave
English
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Etymology
[edit]Described by Plato in the Allegory of the Cave in the Republic.
Proper noun
[edit]- (philosophy, epistemology) An allegorical cave whose unwitting, chained inhabitants perceive reality only in the form of shadow puppetry cast by the light of a man-made fire, lacking any awareness of the limitations of their perspective or its constructed nature.
Usage notes
[edit]The cave itself is only part of the allegory, which describes the experiences of a person leaving the cave and what lies outside, though the two are sometimes conflated.
Translations
[edit]the allegorical cave
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