Reflections on Plato and Greek Civilization

In the reading allegory of the cave, Plato is talking about some prisoners put in a cave and are chained such that they do not see the outside world. In their perception, they only see the shadows and all their reality is set around what they can see. What they do not understand is that these things are not real. The knowledge level they have is chained to only what they can see. If one of the prisoners is released and let to move his head, he will now be able to see the light at the end of the cave. The Cave, in this case, represents the People and the belief that knowledge can be gained through hearing and see.

The shadows are the different perceptions that people hold regarding particular matters. They are different believes that people see as truth. the game played by the prisoners represents the superiority or mastery that people put on a particular person. The prisoner who sees the light is the person who seeks knowledge away from the common perceptions of people. When the allegory of the cave was written, the democracy of the Greece nation was dependent on slavery (Castro, 2017). The country dependent on slave labor in a separated territory which was the mines.     In these places, there was the absence of freedom both of speech and movement. In these days, these were the terms mostly used to indicate democracy among people. Therefore, it is clear that for a person to grow in philosophical knowledge, there must be an enabling sociopolitical environment.

During this time, in Greece there was the ruling class was a group known as the thirty. They were using their power to silence any person who was against them. This was after a major war with Sparta. Socrates was a friend to one of the thirty leaders who was considered a traitor. His trial was therefore because they feared such friendship could bring rebellion. These two civilizations had similar social stratification where there were the ruling class, the slaves, and the peasants.   The works of Plato were airport an aspect in influencing the Greek society and the western civilization. His writing at thought to have contributed to social development in the society and stable government. This is because his way of teaching was simple but it made people think of the best possible solution hence enlighting them.

The government before this was politicized and worked according to the ways of the political class. In conclusion, the works of Plato especially the allegory of the cave and the apology depicts the problems of the society since long times ago. they highlight the lack of freedom and democracy as well as the right and wrong in the society. Most civilizations had the habit of using slaves in developing their countries. These slaves were kept in isolated places and were treated in an inhumane manner. This can be seen in Egypt and Greece. References Baron, A. Greek Models of Life up to Plato’s Philosophy and its Influence on the Christian Life in the Early Church.  Theological Research. The Journal of Systematic Theology, 3(1), 5-24.