The Veil of Ignorance Philosophy Essay Example

Plato mentions many times in his work about ignorance, enlightenment and reality. I agree with Plato’s philosophy on how human beings are imprisoned in a cave of ignorance. This ignorance that he mentions is connected to the real world today. The people in today's society base their life, knowledge and beliefs without having evidence to back them up, not knowing the full picture.

Socrates' philosophy pointed out that human choice is motivated by the desire for happiness. Although he never wrote anything down, his students kept his philosophy alive. Plato, Socrates' alumni, one of the world's greatest philosophers, created the theory of the cave. “The Allegory of the Cave” is one big metaphor to picture our opinions, ignorance and our viewpoints. The Allegory shows how our points can change completely when given new information. This information spreads like the telephone game, seeing how a message can be altered from person to person,“incorrect ideas.” In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave '', he had humans represent prisoners stuck in the cave. Plato explains how the prisoners see shadows that they believe are reality. These shadows are created by the objects projected by the fire/light. A small group of puppet masters decide what objects to cast shadows of and therefore are in charge of what the prisoners believe is real. Plato indicates that humans are trapped and their realities controlled by groups such as society, religion, and the government. Plato claims “In order to have real knowledge, we must gain it through philosophical reasoning.”

Moreover, humans see only what's presented to them, we judge by what we can see. Just like the prisoners in the Cave, who  only saw the shadows thinking they were  real. The prisoners don’t know the process on how the shadows were made. The shadows represent stories or lies presented by the people in power. Just like how in life people spread rumors on a person and that's how we perceive them. The chains that the prisoners or bond to are like biases which bind us because we are yet to be enlightened. Just like when the media puts things into our brain and creates bias.

“They are drawn from life. . . . For, tell me, do you think our prisoners could see anything of themselves or their fellow expert shadows thrown by the fire on the wall of the cave opposite them?” “How could they see anything else if they were prevented from moving their heads all their lives?” (Plato 21).

I don’t believe that the prisoners see any meaning to the items or people they see. They don’t know the rankings of these items to judge based on how much they are worth. I believe the prisoners think they are the same until the escaped prisoner tries to enlighten them. Humans see what's presented to them. We judge by what we can see. Just like the men in the Cave they only see the shadows thinking they’re real. The men don’t know the process on how the shadows were made. The shadows represent stories or lies presented by the people in power. Just like how in life people spread rumors on a person and that's how we perceive them throughout the rest of their lives. The chains that the prisoners or bond to are like biases which bind us because we are yet to be enlightened. Just like when the media puts things into our brain and creates bias. This is important to my claim because it shows how we humans are before leaving this cave, before the veil of ignorance is risen. 

“Suppose one of them were let loose, and suddenly compelled to stand up and turn his head and look and walk toward the fire: all these actions would be painful and he would be too dazzled to properly see the object of which he used to see the shadows. So if he was told that what he used to see was mere illusion and that he was nearer and seeing more correctly, because he turned towards objects that were more real, and if on top of that he were compelled to say what each of the passing objects was when it was pointed out to him, don’t you think he would be at a loss, and think that what he used to see was more real than the objects now being pointed out to him.” (Plato 21-22).