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Anonymous
the prisoners ability to turn their heads to see outside their view of the shadows on the walls is restricted by chains. one prisoner is given a chance to leave the cave, so he ascends to see the firelight which cast the shadows. this blinds him for a time, before he adjusts to it and understands it. he ascends to the sunlight which increases as he leaves the cave. this, too, blinds him, for his eyes are unused to seeing true light. when he leaves the cave, the sun blinds him for a time as well, until he adjusts to this and is able to see things for what they are in their truest form.
when I took philosophy I asked the teacher like - how it concretely related to reality at all. I don't think I got a straight answer. I suppose it can be applied to any situation where you learn more about something you thought you had already known to the full extent, like about people or politics or living.
the plato era was full of a lot of this crap, which didn't give realworld examples of what it meant. It probably made more sense back then, when /everything/ was an allegory.
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