Allegory of the Cave

       We can see Plato's view of the structure reality through his Allegory of the Cave. In his allegory, the main characters are looking at shadows of replicas of true beings. We can infer from this that Plato believes that what we as common people perceive about reality is really just many layers of falsity. He believes that we have grown accustomed to seeing ghosts of reality, and that we can see the truth by ascending into the realm of the mind. After becoming accustomed to this level, we can see the truth in its true form. This allows him to reconcile the arguments of Parmenides and Heraclitus. The premise for the argument of Parmenides is that reality is ultimately permanent and characterized by unity. Heraclitus' argument is that reality is defined by change and multiplicity. He reconciles these two seemingly opposing views because his view has both changing reality and constant reality. Plato's view says that there are many levels of reality that we can reach- the original being looking at shadows on the wall, then escalating to looking at the fire that makes the shadows, and so forth. All of these levels are a reality to us, and we must be accustomed to each as we go up or down in the levels because they all change how we see. However, there is one ultimate reality that branches off into all the other perceived realities. This reconciles the views Parmenides and Heraclitus.