The
Allegory of the Cave (also called the
analogy of the cave, myth of the cave, metaphor of the cave, parable of the cave, and
Plato's Cave) is presented by the
Greek philosopher
Plato in his work the
Republic (514a–520a) to compare "the 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. The allegory is presented after the
analogy of the sun (508b–509c) and the
analogy of the divided line (509d–513e). All three are characterized in relation to
dialectic at the end of Books VII and VIII (531d–534e).