Premium Content The Metaphor of the Cave
By Kristen Roggemann - November 25, 2002
Plato introduces his famous allegory of the cave with the phrase, "like this:" thus establishing that the passage is structured as a metaphor, and therefore must be read both as a figurative description and a symbolic representation of a concrete state of being (VII:514). He also emphasizes that the reader must "imagine," a command that reinforces…
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