It is hard to imagine what it would be like never to have seen the color white. One thing seems clear: such a person could not see grey for what it is. Colors that in reality are dark would seem to be bright, given this person’s inexperience in color.
Socrates thus offers an analogy for the condition of most humans: we are inexperienced in pleasure because we have not really experienced the highest and brightest. This inexperience discolors our perception of all pleasures. Even the pleasures we’ve known we do not see for what they are.
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