2012-03-27

Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave—also known as the Analogy of the Cave, Plato's Cave, or the Parable of the Cave—is an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate "our nature in its education and want of education" (514a).

The prisoners, ignorant of the world behind them, would see the freed man with his corrupted eyes and be afraid of anything but what they already know. Philosophers analyzing the allegory argue that the prisoners would ironically find the freed man stupid due to the current state of his eyes and temporarily not being able to see the shadows which are the world to the prisoners...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

于是他回想当初穴居的情形,就会庆幸自己在认识上的变化而对同伴表示遗憾。他既已见到了事物之本身,便宁愿忍受任何痛苦也不愿意再过囚徒生活。然而,如果他复回洞中,那些同伴不仅不信其言,还会觉得他到上面走了一趟,回来眼睛就坏了,对“影像”竟不能如从前那样辨别。他的同伴们不仅不想出去,甚至想把那位带他出洞的人逮住杀掉。 ... http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/83399354.html