Plato's Cave Myth Allegory has been the foundation for his Theory of Forms,an idea that basically shows our reality to be a shadow of a far more pure and truthful reality. But in the allegory a bunch of prisoners sit looking at the shadows on the wall casted by the fire behind them. But isnt there a glaring logical fallacy here?
If the shadows represent a diluted representation of reality arent the prisoners themselves equal to the reality in the outside world. Cant they just look down at themselves and see that their skin is not the same as the shadows casted on the wall? Or in fact the wall itself is not on the same plane of existence as the shadow; they dont look the same at all. So then how could the prisoners mistake the shadows for the world when they themselves differ at the start. And how could Plato use this allegory as an analogy to his Theory of Forms which tries to create a philosophy for how the world isnt on our plane of existence when no such disprepancy as above exists?