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Allegory of platos cave explained
Religion and science in the modern world
Religion and science in the modern world
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In Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind, the play discusses topics such as religion and science and explores the price of new enlightenment and change in the modern society. This story is not new, though, and in a way exemplifies Plato’s Allegory of the Cave written centuries before Inherit the Wind. It also has themes of Doug McGruder’s “Privileged Distress”, where in today’s society the once privileged class is now forced to deal with a change in their way of thought and life and the distress it puts on them. Although the book was written in the 1950s and based on the Scopes Trial which happened in 1925, the themes discussed are still relevant to today’s world. Both the Allegory of the Cave and the Privileged Distress represent ideas of
ignorance
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In the Cave, there are three men locked to a stone forced to stare at shadows their entire lives, while in Hillsboro there is a secluded town full of people who base their whole world on the bible. In both these stories, the seclusion of the people show how warped their view is of the world, and neither have a chance to learn new truths. Then, in the
Cave, one of the men escape and sees that the shadows are not their entire world comes back to tell the others, while in Hillsboro, the schoolteacher Mr. Cates teaches evolution to his students attempting to bring a new world view into their otherwise ignorant society. In both these cases, a is this a subtopic?
vague
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Many examples of this are seen in Inherit the Wind, like when the entire town revolted against the fact a teacher tried to teach a new idea but ignored the time a man chopped the head of his wife. This shows how the selfishness of the town how they are ok with a gruesome murder because it does not affect their lives at all, but when someone dares challenge something they do not agree with they immediately want that person to be silenced. Another example is when Reverend Brown leads the prayer meeting and begins condemning and damning everyone that supports Cates – even his own daughter – before Brady stops him. The reverend’s distress is shown here when he begins cursing everyone, even his own family, because they have adopted a new worldview different from the one he always assumed was right. Lastly, Brady shows his distress has reached a maximum point when he dies after the trial realizing he won the battle but lost the war. His death symbolizes the death of the old ideas in society and how the privileged can either die with it, or accept the new ideals. While the distress of the townspeople in Hillsboro cannot be compared
similarity they share is that to not judge people based on there looks. Some people judge right
These people have no understanding of the social, moral, and economic challenges that face the world today, these people always choose ignorance over reason. Most people choose ignorance as a defence mechanism to stop thinking about these problems, they don’t realize that by doing that they are becoming more indifferent and they lose one of the most important traits that makes them human, compassion.
If I am not open to their perspective, then I will not be able to help them move past whatever their situation may be. By recognizing that everyone has a different worldview, it will allow me to be more open and understanding towards them.
Portraying the prisoners inside the cave for a lifetime further describes his beliefs on how closed minded society is in his opinion. The “light outside the cave” explains how he feels knowledge is the source of light to everyone’s lives. Without knowledge, there is lack of light. Also, since society does not want to gain further knowledge, they will seem to stay stuck in the dark tunnel. Plato also uses personification to give reader insight on how someone may treat the earth and appreciate it. For example, Plato states “Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him.” The reasoning behind this is to explain how a man would reason with the sun as if it were an actual speaking person. The style of Plato’s writing gives readers an understanding on why his work is named “Allegory of the Cave”. The use of his rhetorical devices give deeper meanings to the Earth and the nature it
The main theme of Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is taking a
reflects upon the theme of the novel. As it highlights the fact that if people in the society
What is truly real, and what is not? This question is one which has been pondered deeply throughout human history, and it seemingly has no definitive answer. To understand what is truly a part of reality, and what isn’t, may be an impossible feat. However, two famous works created by humans from two distant time periods attempt to dissect and analyze this philosophical question. The first, The Allegory of the Cave, was written by the great Greek philosopher, Plato, who was born in 428 B.C. in Athens, Greece. The Allegory of the Cave is a piece of a larger work of Plato’s, The Republic, which is a collection of works concerning political philosophy. The Republic is his most famous work and what he is best known for in today’s world. The second
In the beginning of the story there are a few prisoners in a cave locked up in chains facing a rocky wall in complete darkness. The prisoners are not able to turn around to see what is behind them. Throughout their lives, the only view the prisoners have is the shadows lurking in front of them from the steamy fire set behind them. One of the prisoners is unrestrained from the cave and finally realizes what reality is and how it is portrayed outside the cave. The prisoner has been living in the cave all his life never knowing what the outside world looks like. After witnessing the outside world, the escaped prisoner was astonished at what reality actually looks like. He knew if he was to return back into the cave and tell the others that there is more to the cave than just shadows, they wouldn’t believe him. Similarly, in the movie The Truman Show, Truman Burbank only perceived reality of what was around him, not knowing that his life was a T.V. show aired for millions of people around the globe.
The narrator Sylvia and the children in her impoverished neighborhood are prisoners in a dark cave, which is the society that encompasses ignorance and puppet-handlers. “The Lesson” begins with Sylvia as she talks condescendingly about her neighborhood of Harlem, New York: “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup. Quite naturally we laughed at her… And we kinda ha...
Do we really understand the world we live in and see everyday? Is our everyday perception of reality a misinterpretation, which somehow we can’t break free from? A famous Greek philosopher by the name of Plato sought out to explain this in an experiment he called the Cave Allegory. I will discuss what the Cave Allegory is as well as talk about the movie Interstellar, which is a great example of Plato’s Cave Allegory and how it relates to Plato’s ideas. The question we have to answer first is, what is Plato’s Cave Allegory?
Plato’s, Allegory of The Cave, is a dialogue between his teacher, Socrates, and his brother, Glaucon, where Socrates dissects what is required to have a good life. During this dialogue Socrates illustrates a scenario where humans grow up in cave deep in the ground, strapped down like prisoners so that they can only face the wall front of them. On this wall there are shadows being casted
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance” –George Bernard Shaw. The bodies politic in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and the Bible, the Commonwealth and Israelites, both have shallow beliefs and believe what they know to be true. The Platonic Prisoner, from Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, and Moses, from the Book of Exodus in the Bible, both attempt to influence others with their newfound knowledge and wisdom because they feel the obligation to do so.They end up with different overall responses from their body politic as their relationships undergo change. For relationships to function, the bodies politic need to trust each other as well as courage. Relationship also need perseverance to last.
To sum up, Plato’s allegory of cave depicts the human condition, each of us is a prisoner chained down with distorted illusion of reality. To gain individual autonomy one must awaken the unconsciousness, we must kill our imperfection and liberate one’s senses. We cannot accomplish individual autonomy by watching what’s on the screen, but rather using our own consciousness, begin a Gnostic path, and enlightened each other, hence we can build our own philosophical ideologies and get out of the ignorance, that is the cave.
Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a representation of the normal human behavior as well as the circumstances we presently encounter on a day-to-day basis. The Allegory of the Cave symbolically describes our circumstances as human beings in today’s world. Plato uses a number of key elements to depict the image of the human condition. Plato's images contain relatable ideas in regards to society that are related to my everyday life. By reading Plato I have personally begun to expand my though process and have learned not to rely solely on my senses. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave brings philosophy’s teachings to the forefront and makes it easy for us readers to understand what philosophy is trying to teach us.
uses the idea of sorrow to show, and how we deal with it to show the