... the Cave": Imagine, says Socrates, prisoners in an underground cave with a fire behind them, bound so they can only see the shadows on the wall in front of them, cast by puppets manipulated behind them. They think that this is all there is to see; if released from their bonds and forced to turn round to the fire and see the puppets, they will become kathy crinion 52169618 Page 2 07/05/2007 bewildered and are happier left in their original state. They are even angry with anyone who tries to tell them how pitiful their position is. Only a few can bear to realise that the shadows are only shadows cast by the puppets, and they begin the journey of liberation that leads past the fire and out of the cave into the real world. (Annas, 1981, p. 252) Plato believes that the enlightened one, the one that leaves the cave to see the real ...

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