Education moves the philosopher through these stages until they make it all the way to the Form of the Good. In short, the Allegory of the Cave shows the stages a prisoner goes through to reach the Form of the Good. It begins with the prisoner breaking out of the dark cave they have lived in for so long and getting to experience the forms in real life. The prisoner then realizes that the sun is the reason for everything around him, and that the sun represents the Form of the Good. They experience a completely new world where everything looks different, and once they understand this new world they have reached the highest stage of understanding. Socrates said, “If you interpret the upward journey and the study of things above the upward journey of the soul to the intelligible realm, you’ll grasp what I hope to convey” (517b). Once the prisoner has reached the Form of the Good, and made their journey through the stages, they are compelled to go back into the cave they once lived in and teach those about this other
Education moves the philosopher through these stages until they make it all the way to the Form of the Good. In short, the Allegory of the Cave shows the stages a prisoner goes through to reach the Form of the Good. It begins with the prisoner breaking out of the dark cave they have lived in for so long and getting to experience the forms in real life. The prisoner then realizes that the sun is the reason for everything around him, and that the sun represents the Form of the Good. They experience a completely new world where everything looks different, and once they understand this new world they have reached the highest stage of understanding. Socrates said, “If you interpret the upward journey and the study of things above the upward journey of the soul to the intelligible realm, you’ll grasp what I hope to convey” (517b). Once the prisoner has reached the Form of the Good, and made their journey through the stages, they are compelled to go back into the cave they once lived in and teach those about this other