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In Plato's allegory of the cave, prisoners chained all their lives watch shadows on a wall and take them for the whole of reality. When one is freed and sees the sun, he realises the shadows were only copies, but on his return the others mock him.

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The story behind the card

The allegory opens Book VII of Plato's Republic, written around 375 BC, as a conversation between Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon. The prisoners face the back wall of a cave; behind them a fire burns, and people carry objects past it, so the prisoners see only moving shadows and hear echoes. The freed prisoner is at first dazzled and in pain, and only slowly learns to see real things and, at last, the sun. Plato uses the sun to stand for the Form of the Good, the highest truth in his theory that perfect, unchanging Forms lie behind the changing world we see. Back in the dark, the returning prisoner stumbles, and the others say the journey ruined his eyes; they would even kill anyone who tried to free them, a clear echo of Socrates' own execution.

Türkçe oku
Platon'un mağara alegorisinde, doğduklarından beri zincirli duran mahkûmlar yalnızca duvardaki gölgeleri görür ve gerçekliğin bundan ibaret olduğunu sanır. İçlerinden biri kurtulup güneşi gördüğünde gölgelerin birer kopya olduğunu anlar; ama geri dönünce ötekiler onunla alay eder.

Alegori, Platon'un MÖ 375 dolaylarında yazdığı Devlet'in yedinci kitabını açar ve Sokrates ile Platon'un kardeşi Glaukon arasında geçen bir konuşma biçimindedir. Mahkûmlar mağaranın dip duvarına dönük oturur; arkalarında bir ateş yanar ve ateşin önünden insanlar çeşitli nesneler taşır. Böylece mahkûmlar yalnızca kıpırdayan gölgeleri görür, yankıları duyar. Serbest kalan mahkûmun önce gözleri kamaşır, canı yanar; gerçek nesneleri ve en sonunda güneşi ancak yavaş yavaş görebilir. Güneş, Platon'un idealar kuramındaki en yüksek gerçekliği, İyi İdeası'nı temsil eder. Bu kurama göre gördüğümüz, sürekli değişen dünyanın ardında kusursuz ve değişmez idealar vardır. Mağaraya dönen kişi karanlıkta bocalar; ötekiler yolculuğun gözlerini bozduğunu söyler, hatta fırsat bulsalar onları kurtarmaya çalışanı öldürürler. Bu, Sokrates'in idamına açık bir göndermedir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Allegory of the cave
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