Heidegger’s limited perception of Plato’s cave

Abstract

Since its beginnings, Heidegger’s theory moves in opposition to Plato’s theories and to platonism in general. It is a valid point that Plato's thought, albeit adopting an opposing character in Heidegger's theory, holds an important place, since its guiding objective is to overcome traditional metaphysical thinking towards the resumption of the sense of Being from an essentially phenomenological ontology. This article intends to reflect on Heidegger's interpretation and criticism of Plato’s allegory of the Cave, which is present in Plato's doctrine of truth, with the aim of discussing points of weakness in Heidegger's interpretation of the allegory. We will seek to demonstrate such fragility by confronting the nuances of Plato’s own thought in the allegory, which in turn is connected to the dialogue as a whole, with Heidegger’s view of the allegory.