...as the principal speaker. In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato described symbolically the predicament in which mankind finds itself and proposes a way of salvation. The Allegory presents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually; his idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves; his faith that the universe ultimately is good; his conviction that enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society, and that a good society must be one in which the truly wise (the Philosopher-King) are the rulers. The Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII of Plato's best-known work, The Republic, a lengthy dialogue on the nature of justice. Often regarded as a utopian blueprint, The Republic is dedicated toward a discussion of the education required of a Philosopher-King. The following selection is taken from the Benjamin Jowett translation (Vintage, 1991), pp. 253-261. As you read the Allegory, try to make a mental picture of the cave Plato describes. Better yet, why not draw a picture of it and refer to it as you read the selection. In many ways, understanding Plato's Allegory of the Cave will make your foray into the world...
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...Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Plato’s allegory of the cave is a famous piece derived from his book the Republic. The cave is famed to be a conversation between Socrates, Plato’s respected mentor, and another one of Socrates’ followers, Glaucon. Additionally, Plato’s allegory is meant to be a depiction of the effects of education on society and Plato expresses his abhorrence with how society has ultimately ostracized philosophers out of ignorance of the philosopher’s teachings. The philosopher’s teachings are attempts to enlighten the prisoners who are bound by chains so they can vicariously experience the true good in the world. Socrates, in this conversation with Glaucon, paints a picture describing a world where people are born as chained prisoners that are forced to stare at a cave wall their entire life. Moreover, there is a fire shining behind them that reflects onto the cold stone wall. Behind the fire, guards pass holding artifacts that cast the statue shadows onto the wall and the prisoners play memorization games identifying these forms as “trees, men, and women”. However, one prisoner is freed and begins to look around the cave. For the first time, the prisoner sees the blazing fire and the actual artifacts that used to be only dim, memorized shadows. To the prisoner’s dismay, he is dragged out of the cave and into the scorching sun. He squirms and shrieks from the pain of the overwhelming light. Eventually, the torture fades as his eyes strengthen and he discovers...
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...1. Reflect upon Plato’s account of the experience of the prisoner who is freed from his chains in The Republic. Do you agree with Morpheus in the Matrix that most people prefer to remain in the prisons of their minds? Please show evidence that you have carefully read the primary text(s) and viewed the film clip(s). The intent of this paper is to display the scope of the question “what is reality?” in relation to Plato’s arguments in ‘The Republic’ and the theories and inferences put forth in the film ‘The Matrix’. I will discuss the extent to which reality may be more than what appears ‘real’ to us, and I will also address the logic behind the human desire for security through examination my own thought processes. In the Plato’s Cave scenario in The Republic, the prisoner who is freed from his shackles is taken from his own world, the world as he has always known it and lead to enlightenment through the discovery of a new, better world. He is coming from a place where he is happy in his knowledge of his surroundings. When he is shown the world as it really is, he is leaving what he once believed was the only version of reality. He is shown that what he has experienced in the Cave was governed by other forces. As people, we are both enlightened and unenlightened on this matter. What is to say that we are not the prisoner? We are perfectly happy to live in the state in which we find ourselves right now, so thoughts of leaving our secure reality can be daunting. Could we not be...
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...Tina Bai Knowledge, Reality, Self Professor Georg Theiner 10/1/12 The Implication of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” In The Republic, Plato reveals the overwhelming ignorance of humanity through the allegory of the cave. Plato summarizes his viewpoint of society as a whole through this allegory, portraying the human race as imprisoned in the chains of oblivion, unaware of its own inhibited perspective. A more contemporary philosopher, Umberto Eco, also criticized the state of society in a similar fashion in Travels in Hyperrreality; describing the overwhelming trend of “horror vacui.” The allegory of the cave reveals the importance of education in the journey towards enlightenment-only through instruction can individuals recall the inherent knowledge of the Forms. The significance of the allegory is rooted in Plato’s belief that there exist inherent truths hidden under the superficial surface of society that only enlightened individuals can uncover through education. Plato’s allegory of the cave follows as thus: A cluster of prisoners, having been enclosed in a cave since birth, has never laid eyes on any kind of daylight. Furthermore, these individuals are prevented from turning their heads to look to either side by their bonds, and can consequently only envision what lies straight ahead. Lying posterior to the shackled prisoners is a fire which is subsequently anterior to a wall. A collection of statues sojourn on the top of the wall and are manipulated by a separate...
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...The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand...
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...ts 4. What is your understanding of Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’? Plato’s Allegory of the Cave illustrates the long and arduous journey that is undertaken on the road to true enlightenment. The influence of Socrates is prevalent throughout the text. Socrates, who was Plato’s mentor, was ‘committed to a life that cultivated wisdom’. (Lecture Notes) The pursuit of Truth (The Allegory of the Cave) is one way in which we become wise. I agree with the Allegory to a certain extent. I do believe that people can have a fear of the unknown and can therefore remain static or ignorant as it were. However, I also believe that many people, and in particular children, are naturally inclined to explore and question and therefore further their knowledge, which is at odds with the prisoner as presented to us in the Cave. The first thing that must be done when discussing Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is to ask ourselves what it represents. Firstly, it’s important to point out that it is told by Plato in the context of education. The Allegory is a metaphor for the journey people must take on the road to true enlightenment or in order to gain true knowledge. He utilises the Allegory as a way to explain his theory of forms and his differing views of illusion and reality. The prisoners are living in a world in which they ‘can only look straight ahead of them and can’t turn their heads’. (Plato, 1955, p.256) In this sense, we see what we are told to see and we believe/accept it without ever questioning...
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...Plato’s Cave Christopher Nieto PHL/443 February 12, 2013 Mr. Richard Albin In philosophy the distinction between truth and knowledge is effectively highlighted in Plato’s allegory of the cave, which illustrates the great limitations faced by philosophers in discovering the ultimate nature of reality. Nevertheless regarding the theory of knowledge, the parable itself is highly symbolic and asserts that any knowledge gained through perceptual awareness is an illusion and are mere reflections of the highest truths. This allegory can be interpreted in many ways; however in the context of platonic epistemology it flawlessly conveys Plato’s “Theory of forms” of an immaterial realm of abstractions considered to be the highest reality in which upon all natural phenomenon is based on. The difference between truth and knowledge itself moreover is a much simpler matter. Since the only semantic distinction between the two is that, truth is anything that is in accord with fact or reality whereas knowledge are any facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education. However from an epistemological perspective disagreement still remain about whether our senses can be trusted to discover the ultimate nature of reality and subsequently establish if the perceived world as we know it is not just an illusion or a dream. Additionally within the framework of The Republic; the allegory of the cave presented by Plato demonstrates the essence...
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...PHILMAN PRELIM Lesson 3: Greek Wisdom of Man The Greek Triumvirate The Greek Triumvirate of philosophy is known for having a chain of teacher-student relationship. Socrates was the teacher of Plato; Plato was the teacher of Aristotle; and Aristotle was the teacher of one of history’s greatest conqueror – Alexander, the Great. The Greek Triumvirate & the Three Oriental Sages * Although the teachings of the Three Oriental Sages and the Greek Triumvirate are dissimilar, they however, have a resembling view on the soul of man. * The Oriental sages and the Greek triumvirate believed that man’s soul pre-existed his body. * The Greek triumvirate believes that man, in his original and ideal existence as a soul or a « pure mind », knew all things by direct intuition and had all knowledge stored in his mind. However, when man was banished into his world of sense, man blurred out and forgot almost everything he ever knew. * The Greek triumvirate posited that the present problems of man was caused by ignorance or lack of knowledge and that the only way for man to solve these problems is by recalling all his previous knowledge. * However, while they believe in the vitalityt of looking into one’s self as a method to resolve man’s problem, there are still major differences when it comes to the ‘specifics’ of their ideologies. Socrates * He was born in Athens circa 469 B.C. and died in 399 B.C. * He is known as one of mankind’s greatest teachers. ...
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...In Book VII of The Republic, Plato introduces his ‘Allegory of the Cave’ which presents itself in the form of a Socratic dialogue between Glaucon, the brother of Plato, and Plato’s teacher, Socrates. Plato’s initial focus in his ‘Allegory of the Cave’ is almost entirely transcendent; he is concerned not with knowledge, but rather with the nature of reality. Socrates, speaking to Glaucon, describes a group of prisoners chained to a wall in a cave who have been there since birth. Behind them is a fire, which lights the cave, and between this fire and the prisoners is a road where people carry all sorts of human, animal and other forms, which are then reflected onto the opposite wall of the cave. Unable to turn their heads, the prisoners are only able to see the shadows that these forms cast upon the wall and Socrates makes the point that such men hold that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of artificial things. Plato makes an interesting point about human nature in this case, emphasizing the idea that human beings have a tendency to accept the reality that they are presented with. He goes on to say that, upon being introduced to the world outside of the cave, a man would be at a loss and believe that what was seen before is truer than what is now shown, a natural human reaction when facing the realization that one’s entire concept of reality has proven to be false. After his discovery of the world outside of the cave, the man would begin to adjust, first he’d most easily...
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...The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand...
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...Allegory of the Cave Plato’s work on the allegory of the cave represents the awareness of the human beings towards their surrounding in the face of prejudicial society views. Plato realizes that humankind can speak and think without any mindfulness of his realm of form. In the myth, Plato likens uneducated people to prisoners chained in a cave without the ability to exercise any mobility. The only thing visible to them is the cave wall and some light fire burning behind them to create some warmth in the cave (Plato & Parker, 2005). A parapet exists between the fire and the prisoners, in which the puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers behind the prisoners clutch the puppets that cast their shadows on the cave walls. However, the prisoners cannot see the puppets but can hear the echoes of objects and see some shadows on the caves wall. The prisoners can hardly recognize the real cause of the shadows and they suppose that the shadows are real. According to Plato, if a different shadow is cast that resembles a book, the prisoners are likely to recognize it in their own language. Thus, in his view, prisoners would be mistaken, since they would be referring to the shadows in their own language that pass through their eyes than the real things that cause the shadows. Plato’s objective was to show that the general terms used in a certain language are not the names of tangible things that we see but the things we can internalize in our minds. Plato shows how humankind should...
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...Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology 1.0. The Background to Plato’s Metaphysics The author Silverman, Allan (2014) of this article titled Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology wrote about how Plato first began to annotate his own points on metaphysics and epistemology. As we all knew, Plato’s definition of things are heavily influenced by his teachers Heraclitus (c.540 B.C.-480-70) Parmenides (c.515 B.C.-449-40) and especially Socrates (470 B.C-399). However only remnants of the writings of Heraclitus and Parmenides and also nothing left of Socrates. The only evidence that we ever had is Plato’s depiction of his teacher that is the dialog he wrote in his writings about Socrates’s views. Sometimes, it is as if it was Socrates’s writing not Plato because of the many things about Socrates he wrote. Some had said that it was his own views but instead he used Socrates as the speaker. This article also wrote about Plato’s predecessors’ views of the concept that influences his definition of Metaphysics and Epistemology which are Being and Forms. Firstly, Parmenides which he said there is one and only in this world and that is being. The truth is it never change and will never be. Sadly, there is not much we could conclude from Parmenides’s point of view. His concept of being has become Plato’s based of doctrine of Forms. As contrast to Parmenides’s definition of physical world, Heraclitus is the advocate of change. He said that the ordinary objects...
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...the assumptions which underpin Machiavellian & Platonic philosophies in reference to The Republic and The Prince. My position is that both Machiavallian and Plantonic philosophies make assumptions in exemplifying their notions. Machiavelli’s is intentional while Plato’s is unintentional. Also both philosophies through their assumptions sometimes contradict each other. Well expressed In discussing his notion above it is important to understand the basic theory and ideas of Machiavelli and Plato. Both Machiavelli and Plato produce arguments for order in the state but they have different notions of how to go about order. Plato obsesses with certainty and has an ideal form of order, while order with Machiavelli is learning to live with uncertainty. Machiavelli believes we need to be able to work with insecurity and not try and produce certainty. He believes we embrace uncertainty by developing our own armour. Knowledge is the basis of leadership for Plato while Power is the basis of leadership for Machievelli. In the Republic the Allegory of the Cave represents Plato's views on philosophy. Basically, we are all in the cave and Philosophy is what brings us out of the cave. Plato believes that Philosophy is the highest form of inquiry, just because it alone involves no presuppositions. I do not believe this to be true because The Allegory presents, in brief form most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions. Meaning of statement is not clear Examples of these assumptions...
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...Running head: Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix After reading the Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I realized that it endures a significant similarity to The Matrix whereas the two share nearly identical metaphysical themes and hypothetical assumptions regarding the reality of nature, the experience in the world, and the chance of illusion. At first, the ‘two world’ theory is the main theme that goes through The Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave. The existence of two worlds is what this philosophy theorizes, mainly in Plato. The world of the senses and everyday experience is of an imagined world. An Ultimate world unruffled of Formulae is of their existing. Plato is considered by the second world to be ontologically greater to the imagined world of the senses. This theory is also found in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Gnosticism with some substantial changes. In contrary, the prisoners sat facing a wall inside a cave, which gave me the scenario that the prisoners are bound by shackles from birth in the story of the cave. In their lack of knowledge, the prisoners take these shadows for the “real things” because from birth they have only seen these shadows on the walls that had images of animals and humans carrying objects. In the development of the story, one of the prisoners is unbound and made to turn around. In the beginning, he realizes the cause of the shadows, which is caused by a flame in arrears of the...
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...●FishBowl 2 on Plato, Coates, and Gregory Rodriguez Answer the JHW questions due today and also complete the following: What happens when a prisoner is released from the den and “compelled to look straight at the light?” What does the prisoner see when he is returns to the cave? What does he then feel about reality? What happens when a prisoner is released from the den and “compelled to look straight at the light?” What does the prisoner see when he returns to the cave? What does he then feel about reality? When the prisoner leaves the cave and looks straight into the light, he is left blind by the extreme brightness of it. However, after a while, he gets accustomed to the light, and he realizes that the world of shadows in which he had lived his whole life was a mere imitation of reality. Consequently, when he returned to the cave, he has not used to the darkness anymore and his peers...
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