PLATO'S CAVE
"Next, then," I said. "make an image of our nature in its education and
want of education, likening it to a condition of the following kind.
See human beings as though they were in an underground cave-like
dwelling with its entrance, a long one, open to the light across the
whole width of the cave. They are in it from childhood with their legs
and necks in bonds so that they are fixed, seeing only in front of
them, unable because of the bond to turn their heads all the way
around. Their light is from a fire burning far above and behind them.
Between the fire and the prisoners there is a road above, along which
we see a wall. built like the partitions puppet-handlers set in front
of the human beings and over which they show the puppets".
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