The Path Walkers

One of the last questions raised in class tonight (Jan. 21) pertained to the people who were walking along the path in front of the fire. Who do they represent? Since Plato does not provide much information about these people, we are left to speculate. Also, since this allegory can be representative of many aspects of society (religion, education, politics, etc), perhaps these people could be false prophets. I refer to false prophet in both a religious and political context (for political see demagogy: http://www.reference.com/search?q=False+prophet). These false prophets may think they know the truth and do have some idea of what truth is but do not know truth in it's entirety. They are more knowledgeable than the prisoners because they realize a greater truth exists but they are still prisoners in a sense that they do not know the ultimate truth (what exists outside of the cave).

Plato fails to mention whether these people have been outside of the cave or not. Suppose these people have been outside of the cave. If these people or false prophets as I have proposed here, have been outside of the cave, then, they could have possibly brought objects back into the cave with them and now use them to deceive the people. Perhaps they could be purposefully deceiving the people or possibly unknowingly deceiving them (if they are in fact deceiving them at all). As with false prophets, they may be putting forth the truth to the best of their ability (or what they believe to be true) unaware that an even greater truth exists or falsely representing the truth altogether for their own reasons.