Plato: “Allegory of the Cave” (380 BCE)
Audience
The primary audience of the “Allegory of the Cave” was probably the members of Plato's Academy and, more broadly, the educated elite of Athens and the wider Greek world. Plato's ideas on politics and education as espoused in the allegory and throughout The Republic represent a thorough revision, arguably even an intended replacement, of the traditional form of Greek politics and education. While it would be a mistake to abstract the author's political philosophy directly from the pages of The Republic—it is a literary-philosophic work and one in which Plato himself never speaks—it is clear that at least something of Plato's own philosophy can be derived from the words he puts into the mouth of Socrates. Moreover, Plato's work with Dionysius II seems to be evidence that he was interested in putting into practice some of the political ideals of The Republic.
As with all of Plato's work, the intended audience included his ideological opponents. The “Allegory of the...
