The Allegory of the Cave

By: Plato

Narrated by: Joesph Kent

The Allegory of the Cave, or Plato's Cave, was presented by the Greek philosopher Plato to compare "[T]he effect of education and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor, Socrates, narrated by the latter.

Public Domain (P)2018 Combray Media

Allegory of the Cave and Philosopher Kings

This recording includes the entirety of Part VII of Plato's Republic, which includes not just The Allegory of the Cave, but also a much larger discussion on the education of the philosopher king (which is a larger theme of the entire Republic work).

The Allegory of the Cave is the basis for the philosophical idea of 'platonic objects' where what we see is not the true item, but a show of it. The chair you sit on has a 'chairness' about it, but it not a true, perfect, abstract object understood by Platonic idealism. It is but a show of the real chair.

The allegory is an important one, as it is a basis for much philosophical discussion.

The rest of the chapter, about the philosopher king, is interesting, but does not have the same impact on philosophical discussions. It talks about education requirements - training in fighting, warfare, gymnastics and didactic argument. So it's inclusion here is nice, but it isnt really needed if you are just looking for an understanding of the Cave.

Narration by Joesph Kent is good. It is easy to follow and has no production issues. It is on the quicker paced end of narration, which may cause some difficulty for following the dense discussions here.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A difficult but interesting story.

A Book is a classic for a reason in this case you may struggle a bit but by the end you will consider it a ride worth taking.

Since it is short you have the luxury of listening to it again if the entire meaning of the story is not absorbed.

The Narrator did a good job bringing the story to the listener.



This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Cant argue with the price...

A short piece and there is nothing technically wrong with it needs to be slower.

The Allegory of the Cave

I enjoyed this conversation. I have not taken the time to read much philosophy, but I have been making more of an effort to broaden my book intake. This was an interesting conversation between Glaucon and Socrates. I need to listen to/read it again to really absorb everything as I tended to listen to the audiobook while doing other things and that is not an effective way to really take it all in. I would have given it a 5* except I felt the narration was a bit dry for my taste.

This book was given to me for free at my request for my voluntary and unbiased review.

Thought provoking

It's always interesting to get to read the thought processes of another person, whether you agree or not, it tells you a lot. Books like this one are especially interesting because you get a glimpse into the thoughts of someone who lived in another time and another culture.

I very much enjoyed listening to this, although I was a little disappointed in the narration. The whole book is a conversation between two people so only two voices are needed for the whole book, considering this I thought there should have been more difference between the voices used, they were quite similar and it took paying attention to be sure of who was speaking.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

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