We’re going to do a thought experiment called Plato’s Cave. Here’s how it works:
Imagine prisoners who have lived their entire lives chained in a cave, facing a wall. Behind them is a fire, and people walk past carrying objects. The prisoners can only see shadows on the wall and hear echoes. To them, the shadows ARE reality.
One prisoner escapes and sees the real world — sunlight, colours, actual objects. They return to tell the others, but the prisoners think they’ve gone mad. The shadows are all they’ve ever known.
Here’s the question: How do we know WE aren’t like the prisoners — mistaking shadows for reality?
Stand up if you think there are things about reality that we’re completely unaware of.
What might our “shadows” be? What are we missing because we’ve never seen anything else?
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