Education is primarily referred to as the key to knowledge, and it gives people an opportunity to understand themselves better. Uneducated people would be locked away from many concepts and opportunities that are required for a better living. The Plato’s cave acts as an analogy of the lack of education among human beings. They end up being confined in darkness without their will, and this can be equated with the prisoners who were chained in the cave (Sontag, 1977). In contemporary society, people lack education regarding the beliefs and the way of living of individuals from different ethnic groups. This makes it hard for harmony to be achieved.

As Socrates stated, one of the prisoners successfully gains freedom from the chains and sees the light. This enlightens him and exposes his ignorance. In this regard, when one gets to learn about diverse cultures, he or she turns from darkness and appreciates other cultures. In the current world, every government calls for an affordable and quality education so that all school-going children are exposed to knowledge so that they would understand their world better (Wright, 1906). Considering the prisoner who broke free, it is evident that people who are just exposed to education might appear reluctant in the earlier stages, but with time, they proceed to the full glee of the sunlight. The prisoner’s eyes ached as he tried to adjust to the firelight, but within no time, he was accustomed to the bright sunlight.

In conclusion, Plato’s cave epitomizes the quest for knowledge in the current society. Uneducated people are chained in a dark cave where they are ignorant of diverse cultures and what is happening around them just as in the analogy. When they access education, their eyes begin to open up.

References

Sontag, S. (1977). In Plato’s cave. On photography, 3.

Wright, J. H. (1906). The origin of Plato’s cave. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 17, 131-142.

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