It is also commonly used to illustrate the concept that, while we develop perceptions of objects in our minds, these perceptions are distinct from the objects that created them and not all of our “knowledge” about these objects is correct. While Plato intended it to represent ignorance of the forms, it can really be used with any kind of ignorance. While few people seriously believe his theory today, there is still much to be learned from the allegory.
Plato equates these copies to the shadows on the walls of the cave and himself to the man who has been let out to see the original objects, the forms. According to Plato, the physical incarnations of these forms (the name given to the original object/concept) are merely copies of the forms and are therefore imperfect. The theory of forms holds that the universe has a creator and that there exists only one of each object/concept in the world, which is located in the mind of the creator. Specifically, he trying to illustrate the life of people who do not understand his theory of forms. Plato wants us to learn a few things from this allegory. Glaucon points out that he would likely be frustrated by the triviality of it all, and that he would be especially incapable of trying to assign meaning to the shadows like the other men, since he would know that the shadows were not really the objects the men assumed they were. Socrates then asks what the man would do if he was taken back into the cave and made to again watch the shadows. Glaucon observes that he would likely be put-off at first, but that he would soon come to understand that these new objects were real and that the old ones were all shadows. Socrates asks Glaucon to consider what would happen if a prisoner was released and able to see the sun and real objects in their true forms. We know that what they see is merely a shadow of a book, an approximation of the real object, but they would not understand this. If the shadow were of a book, the prisoners, knowing nothing else of books, would say that they see a book. The men can see the shadows, but they cannot see the objects themselves. Throughout the day, puppeteers walk down the walkway with puppets that cast shadows on the wall. Behind them there is a fire and a walkway (see image). In the allegory, Socrates (Plato’s teacher and the narrator of all of Plato’s dialogues) asks a friend named Glaucon to imagine that there are prisoners in a cave chained against a wall. To illustrate this, consider Plato’s famous “Allegory of the Cave” (or “Allegory of the Den” depending on the translation). This usually takes the form of setting up a fictitious scenario in which people are confronted either with a purer form of the initial question or some allegorical situation. Thought experiments, like science experiments, seek to isolate the variable being studied to allow for meaningful exploration.
To get around this, they will often create thought experiments. Often times philosophers find themselves dealing with very conceptual, multifaceted questions that are too abstract and complex to meaningfully discuss. Ok, so before I start commenting on specific thought experiments I want to stop and explain what thought experiments are and why they are important.
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