Etymology

Plato's Cave

Today it means: An allegorical cave whose unwitting, chained inhabitants perceive reality only in the form of shadow puppetry cast by the light of a man-made fire, lacking any awareness of the limitations of their perspective or its constructed nature. Full definition →

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The story

Described by Plato in the Allegory of the Cave in the Republic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.