Book Seven begins with one of the most famous moments of Plato’s Republic, known as“the allegory of the cave,” which demonstrates the places discovery, learning, and curiosity can take us. Socrates starts off by describing a cave full of darkness and a bunch of men living in it. These men are bounded in a way where they cannot turn their heads; they could only look forward and face a wall.  A wall with shadows of statues on it, casted from the fire located behind them. Never seeing anything else besides the shadows, the men doesn’t know any better and considers the shadows to be real, and one of the only things present in the world. They know very little about the world. But as soon as a man gets the opportunity to be released from his boundaries a journey begins.

The man explores the cave discovering the fire and statues that’s been making the shadows all along. He is now learning things that are more real than just a shadow. His curiosity then drives him out of the cave into the real world, where he discovers the things surrounding him, and starts understanding the purpose of those things. Eventually when he returns back to the cave, all the other men makes fun of him. Since they are ignorant to the real world outside the cave. They don’t understand how much fuller his life is compared to theirs. Instead they question why would he ever go out the cave to gain sight to eventually lose it again. This is where the purpose of him coming back to the cave comes in. He returned to the cave not because he doesn’t like it outside, but it is his duty to educate and help the other prisoners in the cave.

Book Seven begins by comparing the natural condition to this because without education, which is composed of experience, learning, discovery and curiosity, humans are like the imprisoned men. Naturally when we are born we only know what our parents show us; we don’t have the ability to go off by ourselves. Just like how the prisoners see the shadow and nothing else, we only see the mental list of norms our parents and other interactions with our surrounding give us. When we finally have the ability to walk and go off by ourselves we get to discover the world through our own eyes and not be manipulated, just like the prisoner who eventually left the cave.