The Buddha’s teaching of the Dharma is based on two truths: a truth of worldly convention and an ultimate truth. Those who do not understand the distinction drawn between these two truths do not understand the Buddha’s profound truth. The world-ensconced truth and the truth which is the highest sense.

Pragmatic theories of truth can thus be viewed as making contributions to the speech-act and justification projects by focusing especially on the practices people engage in when they solve problems, make assertions, and conduct scientific inquiry.

Absolute truth is something that is true at all times and in all places. One way or another, these are all truths because they are logically true. Absolute truths are discovered, not invented.

The chains that prevent the prisoners from leaving the cave represent that they are trapped in ignorance, as the chains are stopping them from learning the truth. The shadows cast on the walls of the cave represent the superficial truth, which is the illusion that the prisoners see in the cave.

Plato

Plato’s allegory of the cave is a classical philosophical thought experiment designed to probe our intuitions about epistemology – the study of knowledge.

Who are the prisoners in the cave? The prisoners represent humans, particularly people who are immersed in the superficial world of appearances. People have lost the ability to know reality and the world’s authentic needs.

Socrates says that those fit for a guardian’s education must by nature be “philosophic, spirited, swift, and strong” (376 c). The guardians must be lovers of learning like “noble puppies” who determine what is familiar and foreign by “knowledge and ignorance” (376 b).