Comparing Platos Allegory of the Cave and Maimonides Limits of Mans

Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Maimonides' Limits of Man's Intellect      Ã‚   Enlightenment is the key subject of both Plato's "Allegory" and Moses Maimonides' "Limits of Man's Intellect." To them, obtaining knowledge is life's most significant objective. Plato stresses "the Good" while Maimonides encourages "Perfection" as the aim of this objective. While both authors share compatible thoughts toward the subject of enlightenment, there are key differences between "the Good" and "Perfection" that should be duly noted.    In Plato's "Allegory" we see mankind in a state of imprisonment. What they consider reality is merely shadows that are cast on a cavern wall. This can be linked to Maimonide's essay in that he views man's youth as a kind of imprisonment when it comes to obtaining abstract knowledge. He says it is important to initiate the young and teach them according to their ability to comprehend (296). This I feel is an initial starting point, a state of beginnings similar to man being shackled by the limits of its intellect at youth. In the "Allegory of ...