A reading of Plato's understanding of existence and knowledge through his metaphors

In order to make philosophy understandable which is often difficult to explain and understand due to its abstract concepts and complex subjects, it has been tried to change the abstract concepts with concrete conceptions and complex ones with simple ones through metaphorical ways to make philosophy clearer. Thus metaphor has been the method of expression for philosophy. On the other hand, metaphor is not only the way of expression, but it has also become one of the basic concepts of philosophy in terms of providing a deeper thought. In this study our aim is to analyze Plato's metaphors on the basis of his ontology and epistemology, who is the student of Socrates who opulently used the well-known and popular examples of metaphor as the language and dynamic of the philosophical thought in his philosophy. In this regard, first we tried to touch upon philosophy which flourished in mythological mentality and the metaphorical style originating from this mentality as an introduction in which we have felt necessary to deal with this subject as metaphorical expression types are included in philosophy, it belonged to the essence of oral language and the master pieces of the oral language were myths. After that the definition of metaphor, its analysis in its entirety from various aspects, its place in philosophy and the use of metaphors by the philosophers before Plato have been mentioned. At the end of the study, Plato's ideas on ontology and epistemology have been presented, the myths he evaluated in his philosophy at the level of metaphorical expression have been analysed in accordance with his ontology and epistemology. Key Words: Plato, Existence, Knowledge, Idea, Metaphor, Pre-Socratics, Mythology