It was during my senior year of high school in my philosophy class that I was changed by a reading/writing experience. We had to read a short story called "The Allegory of the Cave" which was taught by the prestigious philosopher Socrates, but written by his protege Plato. At first I really didn 't want to do this assignment, it sounded kind of boring. But once I actually did it, it turned out to be a really interesting story. It made me think deeper into everything I do, and it showed me different perceptions on what is happening. This paper, for example, it took me forever to understand what the assignment actually meant. I was thinking too deep into it, thus making it harder for me to start and pick a topic. What I really trying to accomplish …show more content…
All they saw were shadows dancing across the wall in front of them. This was their life. What they didn 't know was that these shadows were being made by people passing behind them carrying all kinds of things like; pots, bows, children, or even animals. This became the men 's perception of reality. Later one of the men got released and he saw the world for what it really was and had a better description on everything. So he ran back inside to tell the others, but they didn 't believe him, they believed what they saw on the wall. This idea turned into our assignment and the class had to write a short paragraph on what this story meant to us today. What I got out of this story is that the world is being manipulated by all kinds of factors, for example, the media or the press. They all have something to say and everyone believes it, because that is how things have been for so long, that we are just molded or shaped to believe everything we see on the television, in the newspaper, or in a magazine. Similar to the men in the cave, we also have this perception on life, and how we should live our lives. Thus fueling people 's ignorance, it will make a person feel like they know something to the very last detail. So when you, or someone else, tries to add any input or has another view they will argue and try to prove their …show more content…
So I 'm kind of a shy person, and I like to put all the pieces together before I speak, I didn 't really speak up during the discussion instead I sat back and listened. Then Mr. Gant brought up a question, he said, "Think about this, okay, have you ever actually made your own decision? Like decided all on your own with no outside influence whatsoever, not even from what you heard on T.V., not what your friend told, not something that you overheard passing people, like nothing at all, just all on your own." This question hit me like a bus, I didn 't know what to think, I felt like I have but at the same time maybe I haven 't. At this moment the class fell silent, everyone was trying to think of a time that they did something on their own but there always ended up being a passed influence. These thoughts lead us to the end of the class and Mr. Gant asked us to think on it, see if we can think of an argument for the next time we
The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, shows the contrast between sense experience and rationalism. The story explains that in the cave where some people have known nothing of the outside world and can only comprehend what they see based on what little they do know of their cave. The people have come to the conclusion what the shapes represent and what causes them and believe it to be correct and thus believe it as the reality of the world. However what they don’t know is that this is not the world and what they will soon find out is that the things they once saw with their eyes what they smelt, what they heard, what they felt were just shadows of real images and objects cast on the wall by fire. What this does is show that sense experience can be at fault because the one perceiving is at times is ignorant of the fact that they know nothing of the true reality of the world and its workings. One must be showed how things are in order to learn and thus no longer be ignorant but have now begun taking steps towards wisdom.
The main concept behind Plato’s Allegory of the cave is to show how individuals perceive the world due to factors such as education. Throughout the video, Plato’s main consensus is strictly focused on the changes that an individual experiences after he or she is exposed to the philosophical reasoning behind a situation, rather than mere interpretations. This can be seen in the opening and middle portions of the video. The video starts with all three prisoners being tied up looking in a dark cave, simply seeing shadows and hearing echoes of ongoing events that are happening outside the cave. At this point, all three prisoner are completely naive to to what is happening, and they believe everything that they are told, because they have no reason to doubt the truth behind
One prisoner somehow manages to escape allowing the prisoner to break free and escape to the outside of the cave.He was greeted by a whole new world and further confusion. The sun blazes down upon him nearly blinding him before he covers his eyes.The confusion and intense lighting brought on a gigantic feeling of confusion.The prisoner backs up and returns to the forsaken cave and speaks of his findings to the other prisoners. The prisoners listen briefly. So bizarre & not fully being able to understand what the prisoner was saying, the other prisoners shunned him and paid no attention to his findings.They ridiculed him and told him they wanted no parts. The prisoner waddled in his own confusion.This allegory tells a story with a deeper hidden meaning. In the story once the prisoner escaped the cave he was blinded by the sun. The sun is a symbol
The allegory of the cave is one of Plato’s many theories, probably one of his most known theories as well. This theory is based on the human perception. Plato would say that the knowledge gained through the senses is no more than your opinion but in order to have actual knowledge you have to obtain it through philosophical reasoning. In his theory, he separates people who think that their sensory knowledge it the truth and people who really see the truth.
The Plato’s Allegory of the Cave written by Plato is a dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Plato’s mentor Socrates. In the story, Plato presents a prisoner chained to the ground within a cave, and is facing a wall with animated puppets, which are the shadows cast by a light source from behind. The prisoner knows that other people are in the cave as well. For the prisoner, this is the reality of the world. Then one day, people come to the cave, and the prisoner is taking out from the cave with his chains removed. When the prisoner returns to the cave to inform the other prisoners of his discovery of the real world, the other prisoners do not believe him and decide to kill him if he tries to set them
In the translation of the dialogue from the Allegory of the Cave, readers are introduced to ideas that help them discover information about the process of enlightenment. After readers’ read the Allegory of the Cave, the readers understand Plato’s philosophical assumptions. From the dialogue, Plato confirms the idea that humans establish their own understanding of the world based on their principle senses. Plato catalogs a significant perception of how humans are able to process new ideas of enlightenment or education.
The "Allegory of the cave "is broken down into four levels. The cave itself representing the tunnel we as humans have dug for ourselves away from the world of learning and knowledge to a world of safe answers where nothing is ever questioned . The cave represents the human's subconscious struggle to be safe and hide from the unknown. Beginning with Level one . The shadow watchers(the mystified )Illusion the figures and shadows reflection on the cave wall.This level is best described as such because the prisoners are not seeing what is real .They are seeing a copy or illusion of what is the real.They are seeing what they want to see.Level two The shadow casters .I believe the shadow casters area people who realize that the world is not as it
Inside the cave the only knowledge that you can experience is the knowledge that is already installed into your head. In the cave viewpoint “The truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the image.”(Plato 450) M This quote explains that everything that is viewed in the cave is only a shadow of the real thing. But, the outside of the cave is made up of real images that can be hurtful “He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world” (Plato 451). This quote explains how humans need to adjust to new knowledge. At first, the outside of the cave is defined as unreal, because you are in denial that there is more to the world than just your cave. When one realizes the actual things that are present outside the cave one will want to spread the word and tell the other prisoners. But, one will not spread the word because the other prisoners will not be open to the knowledge. They will see your viewpoint as being insane do to the fact that they have not been exposed to the
As time goes by, I noticed how reading and writing became one of my weaknesses. Having an assignment readings and writing an essay about it was one of the things I don’t like doing. I am not sure if there are any valid reason on why I don’t like it but all I know is there is always a point where I end up getting stuck because I do not know what else to say. Also, reading gets deeper and some of the words are hard to understand especially when some of the readings use metaphors. However, in every essay I turned in, I always look forward on all of my teacher’s comments because I always want to know what else I am missing, what else to say, and how to improve it. I guess in this case, Sherman Alexie and I are opposite towards our view on writing but we are the alike on the view of learning and improving.
Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" presents a vision of humans as slaves chained in front of a fire observing the shadows of things on the cave wall in front of them. The shadows are the only "reality" the slaves know. Plato argues that there is a basic flaw in how we humans mistake our limited perceptions as reality, truth and goodness. The allegory reveals how that flaw affects our education, our spirituality and our politics.
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 abstract reality requires the understanding of mathematics and finally the forms or the Ideals of all things (the world outside the cave). But our understanding of the physical world is mirrored in our minds by our ways of thinking. First comes imagination (Socrates thought little of creativity), then our unfounded but real beliefs. Opinion gives way to knowledge through reasoning (learned though mathematics). Finally, the realization of the forms is mirrored by the level of Understanding in the Ways of Thinking. The key to the struggle for knowledge is the reasoning skills acquired through mathematics as they are applied to understanding ourselves. The shadows on the cave wall change continually and are of little worth, but the reality out side the cave never changes and that makes it important.
They are in the dark about the truth and reality because they are unwilling to see the truth about the light, or the real world. They live with illusions of the real world but never get to see what really happens because of this unwillingness to believe others to see. They are stuck in their predisposed ways because they were never exposed to reality. If you can only see what is in front of you can ever know true reality. This story is representative of they way people live their everyday live and how what they live constantly might not be the highest knowledge. Ultimately when he can finally see the sun it represents what s the truth and goodness. The cave represents how people live their lives, in the dark, and “world of illusion” (Plato). The shadows in the cave represent the false reality everyday people see. This allegory make one question their own believes and reality. It teaches one to think about all their experiences in their life and think if the reality they know is true. He uses this story to explain how being a philosopher is like being the prisoner that can see, and the others stuck in the cave are the general masses that will not go though the pain of losing their reality to see the
In book seven of ‘The Republic’, Plato presents possibly one of the most prominent metaphors in Western philosophy to date titled ‘Allegory of the Cave’.
Liberal education is not something that is not defined easily. There are various different aspects of liberal education that make it what it is. Part of the liberal education classes that Grand Valley offers work to help students understand and define liberal education better. Not only that, but liberal education helps make students what they are today. Through out the various readings, exercises, and various forms of expression, our liberal education class has helped shape the idea of liberal education and how we, and a university can use it to better enhance our experiences in our daily lives.
Written more than 2000 years ago, The Republic is one of Plato’s most influential and widely read works in the whole of western philosophy . Consisting of a series of ten books and contained within Book VII is the Allegory of the Cave, one of his best known works to emerge. The point of the allegory aims to conceive knowledge as a sort of illumination; Plato portrays the process of education as an ascent from darkness into light. This theory of knowledge still applies to events in our lives today, just as Plato directed it to the people of his time.