Difference Between Truth and Beliefs According to Plato

Epistemology is concerned with the “definition of knowledge and related concepts,
the sources and criteria of knowledge, the kinds of knowledge possible and the degree to
which each is certain” (Funk & Wagnalls 1). Unlike Greek Sophists who believed knowledge
to be relative, Plato believed that knowledge is objective by “trying to postulate of a world of
unchanging and invisible forms, or ideas, about which it is possible to have exact and certain
knowledge” (Funk & Wagnalls 1). In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato provides a powerful
demonstration of support for existence of objective knowledge.
Plato and other followers held knowledge and beliefs to be distinct concepts. Beliefs
were regarded as opinions which were subjective and could be false or true. However,
knowledge “concerned facts that were absolute and simply cannot be false” (Wikibooks 1).
Thus, according to Plato, knowledge is always true; it cannot be false.
Plato used the Allegory of the Cave to prove the nature of knowledge as the only truth
and beliefs as mere opinions. It is also a demonstration of Plato’s Theory of Forms. The
Theory of Forms holds that there exist ideal or perfect forms which are unchanging.
Knowledge of forms does not come through senses, such as smelling, touching, hearing, and
seeing. Thus, what one acquires through the senses is not knowledge but merely beliefs or
opinions.

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The Allegory of the Cave is not only Plato’s demonstration of the objective nature of
knowledge but also why senses cannot be used to acquire knowledge, only beliefs. In the
allegory, Plato imagines prisoners who have been chained in a cave since childhood in a
manner that made their necks and legs immobile. They faced a wall on the cave and their
backs faced the cave’s entrance. Outside of the cave was a fire and between the fire and the
backs of the prisoners was a walkway on which humans walked carrying objects whose
shapes resembled those of human beings, animals, and other common objects. Thanks to the
light of the fire, the prisoners were able to view the shadow of these objects on the wall in
front of them. To the prisoners, the shadows represented reality.
After years of only seeing shadows, one prisoner was allowed to get outside of the
cave. He is able to see real objects for the first time and realizes that the shadows that they
were accustomed to were not reality. However, when he returns to the cave, he finds it hard
to convince the remaining prisoners that what they were seeing on the wall were not real
objects but shadows of real objects.
In the Allegory of the Cave, the shadows represent beliefs or opinions which have
been acquired through the senses (seeing). These shadows are mere reflections of reality but
not reality. It is only after getting from the cave that one gets to know reality or acquires
knowledge of forms. Thus, from the Allegory of the Cave, Plato demonstrates that truth is not
acquired through senses like beliefs and is unchanging.

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Works Cited

Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Epistemology. 2018
Wikibooks. Introduction to Philosophy/ What is Epistemology? 2018