Allegory Of The Cave Essays: Man's Search For Meaning

A philosophical search consists of four major components: a significance, an acknowledgement of something missing, hope of finding it and actually executing the search. To consider some-thing to be significant, it must relate to the person searching in an emotional stance; without emo-tions there would not be a reason to search. Emotions require meaning behind something in order to flare up. After finding significance, a person must then acknowledge the existence of what they are missing. In the Allegory of the Cave introduced by Plato, he claims that people are lost in a pseudo-reality may not realize they are indeed absorbing false information; therefore, making them unaware of the truth. Plato also claims that if a person does not know what something is,

In his book, he constantly emphasizes on his study of logothera-py, which translates into the psychotherapy that emphasizes on meaning. He explains how expla-nations and specific meaning supports a person’s dedication towards overcoming difficult bur-dens. “One of the basic tenets of logotherapy includes that men's main concern is neither to gain pleasure, nor to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in their lives. That is the reason why men are willing to suffer with the condition, to be sure, that their suffering has a meaning”( Frankl, 113). The problem that unravels itself from that statement is what occurs when no meaning gets introduced after experiencing this act of suffering. A person may undergo the most unbearable type of suffering and still come out empty ended; lost in his own thoughts, wondering why that occurred to them specifically. In the case that help is needed from a second person, that idea con-tradicts Frankl’s statement about the search for meaning having to be a solo