The Conviction In Plato's Theory Of Knowledge

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Fear is a useful emotion that allows for humans to react promptly in the presence of

danger, but it can also be the crutch that makes humans defend their faith with blood and sweat

instead of reason and logic. It has taken mankind various attempts to understand the position of

the earth in the universe, and life’s of individuals like Galileo to acknowledge the round shape of

the planet. Now, the word ignorance could be used to describe the generations before that had

held such childish beliefs, however our generation is not immune to remaining scared of what

may lay in the unconscious. The reality we form is based on what can be described through our

five senses, but who is to say there is no experience that eludes mankind and …show more content…

The society Plato describes in his Allegory is restricted to a life of darkness and

immobility, similar to humans being limited to sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. If an

individual was to remove himself from such a limited perception then the results are similar to

being ostracized or being exiled from society. Plato explains that by clinging to the past

knowledge “Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that

it was better not even to think of ascending…” (870). The Conviction in humans to rely on

conscious knowledge is so crucial to the advancement of society that any other knowledge

gained through a different means is labeled a fantasy or an illusion. The masses require that any

new gained perspective must also support previous ideas and therefore previous beliefs remain as

absolute truths on the basis of time. In the subject of providing psychological support Jung

explains how “Apparently we are to fall back on some nebulous trust in fate; somehow or other

the matter will settle itself” (933).The trust that is given to the past without question about its

logic leads us to behave in ways that differ very little from the rituals of human sacrifice.

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