Plato's Cave
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Described by Plato in the Allegory of the Cave in the Republic.
Proper noun[edit]
- (philosophy, epistemology) An allegorical cave whose unwitting, chained inhabitants perceive reality only in the form of shadow puppetry cast by the light of a man-made fire, lacking any awareness of the limitations of their perspective or its constructed nature.
Usage notes[edit]
The cave itself is only part of the allegory, which describes the experiences of a person leaving the cave and what lies outside, though the two are sometimes conflated.
Translations[edit]
the allegorical cave
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