Plato did not have access to brain-imaging or eye-tracking studies. But he did have access to his own brain power and so was able to pose and solve problems that vex us today.
Plato’s cave allegory is just that: a story, as mind experiment, intended to get his audience to shift their way of understanding the world.
The allegory explores how we see the world. Seeing, he teaches, is fraught with difficulties. We often fail to see what is in front of us—and see what is not present. It all depends on our perspective: not just where we are located and what information is provided to us, but also the limitations in our own minds.
In the cave, Plato’s characters see the shadows. But lacking reliable information, they make up a story about those shadows. That story, in turn, affects their whole worldview. What they think of themselves, each other, the gods, and reality is a result of their story about the shadows.
The best way to understand the allegory is with roleplay. Get a group together—as few as three or four people and as many as a dozen—and take positions around the room as Plato suggests.
Download the Allegory of the Cave
Looking Forward
- Seeing for Future-Oriented Leadership
- Exercise: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (you are here)
- Seeing: Starting with Saccades
- Seeing What is There
- Seeing What’s Not There
- Seeing What’s Not There: Cases in Point
- Not Seeing What’s There
- Not Seeing What’s Not There
- Stillness and Motion
- Making Seeing a Superpower
- A Whole Strategy for Seeing, Thinking, and Leading
- Videos on Seeing for Leadership