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A different perspective on the allegory of the cave
What is the symbolism behind allegory of the cave
What does the allegory of the cave emphasize
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To be a great teacher, you must first be a great learner. When you learn something, most of the time your first instinct is to go out and share it with the world, because it’s an interesting experience to see people's faces light up as they learn something new. The Allegory of the cave by Plato, Thinking as a hobby by William Goldman, The Chosen by Chaim Potok, and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, explore a little about being a learner and a teacher, and the way to become the best of each of them. The Cave is Plato’s thoughts on how the world thinks, as well as Goldman’s Thinking as a Hobby. The Chosen teaches a lot about learning and teaching by exploring the thoughts and ideals of Reuven and Danny, who both focus on learning by …show more content…
In The Cave, you have a slow progression of becoming a higher thinker, and in Thinking, you have sudden leaps in quality of thought. The first level is seeing the shadows, the second would be seeing the fire and puppets and going to tell the people seeing shadows that they know nothing, being very critical and condescending. One reason this doesn’t happen in the Cave is because he was moved from those opportunities too quickly to be properly critical. The third stage is after he has been dragged out of the cave and brought into the light and his eyes have adjusted to the point where he can see everything without pain (Plato). The stages of thought don’t show the progression, the first is complete ignorance with the idea that you are actually knowledgeable, the second is learning so you can tear people down and be condescending of their wrong views and ignorance. The third stage is knowledge and an attempt to improve yourself (Goldman). The biggest gap in logic here is the gap between the second and third levels. The third stage of thinking is when you can look at the sun and see it in all it’s glory, and you are enlightened. The second stage is when you are either still in the cave or stumbling around in the light because you can’t see anything except the shadows of the truth. The third stage is mostly about self-reflection and correcting other’s wrong …show more content…
Plato said that if you spend enough time in the light, you want to go back into the cave to teach your companions that there is so much more than the wall of that cave and that life is so much better out there. The prisoners mock the higher thinker because he cannot see the small and simple things anymore because he has been exposed to the light and has more knowledge than they do. He cannot see shallowly anymore, so it takes time for him to adjust so he can teach the prisoners best. Golding’s Thinking shows teaching differently at the three stages. The first stage would be just the grade ones saying their opinions repeatedly until someone agrees with them, and they remain secure in their ignorance. The grade twos, again would tell the grade ones they are wrong and prove why they are by destroying their opinionated argument logically. The grade twos would then leave without building up a better opinion that is supported by facts, because they get enjoyment out of using their knowledge to tear people down. Grade threes are the best teachers because, unlike grade twos who only think about themselves and don’t spend time on self-reflection, grade threes do. They truly want to educate people so they can have a better life, and they spend time on self-reflection to become a better person themselves. Plato’s Cave
When the prisoner got out of the cave “he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners.” Plato says that the knowledgeable prisoner should “become happy on the change, and pity them?” The prisoner would share the truth with the others while the giver kept the truth or the “light” from the citizens. Another difference is that the receiver chose to know more about the truth and not stay in the perfect black and white world. In the cave, the escaped prisoner tried to tell the others about the real world, but they chose not to listen to him because they are so stuck into the knowledge that has been given to them, which makes them think that the knowledge that the escaped prisoner has is a
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.
Only one prisoner can understand the truth, but what about outside of the story. In The allegory of the Cave one prisoner is let free and forced up and is allowed to see what real life is like, and it is completely different from what he already knew. When the other prisoner’s see him, the other prisoner’s think he is delusional. This is similar to politicians switching parties or displaying opinions that differ from their party. The Allegory teaches a tremendously strong lesson, regardless of age, it can still be applied to modern day propaganda.
James Baldwin once said “It is only when a man is able, without bitterness or self-pity, to surrender a dream he has long cherished...that he is set free, that he has set himself free - for higher dreams, for greater privileges.” This quote displays the abundance of courage that is needed to leave everything an individual has in order to move forward. The bravest thing he can do once he has lost his identity, is to surrender who he was and open his mind to the possibility of wo he is going to be.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” explains his beliefs on education of one’s soul and the core of the way they shape themselves. The rhetorical devices that Plato represents inside of his story explains how much freedom is worth in this world. The deeper meaning inside of what Plato describes can further be found out once a reader realizes the type of rhetorical devices are being used. For example, Plato portrays prisoners being locked inside of a cave without a way out. These prisoners never got to see the outside world, yet he mentions they “see shadows” which explains they are only able to catch a glimpse of reality from the outside. Plato’s use of imagery gives us a mental picture on the tease we may feel to notice reality but not be able to experience it. In reality, we do not value freedom as much as we are supposed to. We seem to not see the world as he sees it. With the help of personification, Plato uses human like characteristics to describe non-living things to give
In his Allegory Plato shows us how a man ascends from the darkness of a cave to the light of the outside world. In this ascent Plato’s man passes through four distinct stages of cognition: from imagination, to belief, understanding, and finally knowledge.
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
In the Allegory of The Cave, Plato states that "the prison world is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief". Everything described in the Allegory of The Cave holds a double meaning as a symbol for something else; the prison world symbolizes our world and the fire casting shadows on the walls of the cave is in actuality the sun. Only the sun isn 't just the sun, it is a representation of the good and the truth in this world. When one reaches this level of enlightenment, according to Plato they not only find the truth of their existence, but they also find the good in life, and
I think the prisoner is pulled out of the cave by the enlightened ones, the ones who have reached this essential wisdom They also might stand as deities asserting there power over the prisoner because according to Socrates Plato's teacher only a diety or auricle has the wisdom of the gods and as a result the beings that pulled the prisoner out of the cave and into the light must be deities seeking to grant humankind the wisdom they
In the essay “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato addresses how humans generally do not pursue knowledge. Most humans are satisfied with what they already know and do not want to expand their knowledge. Plato uses simple examples to help the reader understand his logic on why humans do not expand their knowledge.
American’s education system has been entering crisis mode for a long time. Throughout the past few years, the overwhelming question “Is college needed or worth it?” While it is an opinion, there are facts that back up each answer. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” mentions that the enlightened must help the unenlightened and further their knowledge. The problem with America today is that high school students are given the option of college and that makes for less enlightened people. While it is possible to learn in the work force or Army, college is a better option. Mary Daly wrote the article “Is It Still Worth Going to College?” which talks about the statistical value of attending. Michelle Adam wrote the article “Is College Worth It?” which mentions the struggle young people are going through to even get into college. Caroline Bird wrote the chapter “Where College Fails Us” in her book The Case Against College where she
“Welcome all! This is a glorious day, as we are beyond excited to have world-class writer Tristan Teichmeier here at the Pulitzer Prize Convention to read off his most recent work of brilliance, an essay on the impact of critical, creative, and independent thinking. Now, without further ado, we introduce to you Tristan Teichmeier.”
In the analogy, Socrates describes how the prisoners accepted their current situation and never bothered to believe that life could be different. The prisoners never questioned what they knew, maybe for the fear of the of what their fellow inmates would think. This is exactly how humans act in society. We would rather accept what is considered the norm to maintain peace and avoid conflict, even if it means denying the truth. Socrates says to Glaucon, “Consider, then, what being released from their bonds and cured of their foolishness would naturally be like…” (515c). He is implying that their minds are so far from the truth. The only way for them to have a clear perspective, the prisoners need to be stripped of their emotions. Their eyes were focusing on the wrong objectives preventing them from seeing what was right in front of
In "The Allegory of the Cave," prisoners in a cave are forced to watch shadows as people behind them are forced to accept these shadows as reality -- "To them... the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. One prisoner, however, is released, and stumbles into the real world, containing more depth and complexity than they had ever known. At first, the prisoner will be pained at the bright, piercing light, but will eventually recover. According to Plato, the freed prisoner is then obligated to return to the shadows of the cave, to inform the shackled prisoners left behind of the real world. The prisoners, however, will not believe the freed prisoner, and may even go as afra s to kill him for such "lies" contrary to their "reality." The pursuit of the truth is, therefor, a painstaking but rewarding process. According to Plato, the physical world is a world of sight, one that lacks meaning if left alone. Only those who manage to break into the sunlight from the cave will ascend to the intellectual world. The prisoners in the shadows only know of the dull physical world, while those who ascend into the sunlight learn of the spiritual world, and are exposed to the first hints of truth. The soul ascends upward into the realm of goodness and of the truth, where "... souls are ever hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell.." The pursuit of goodness and of the truth, then, improves the soul, as the soul desires to be elevated to a higher state of knowledge and morality. Caring for the self and the soul involves freeing the shackles of the physical world and ascending to the "... world of knowledge... the universal author of all things beautiful and right... and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual..." The soul yearns to dwell in a world of morality and knowledge, and only the pursuit of
There’s a lot of restrictions that shackle the mind in real life and I think that’s what Plato was trying to show in the Cave. In the story when the prisoner was freed and taken out into the real world where it's bright and free. This is relevant to this question because he couldn’t understand the outside world and it shackled his mind and he didn’t understand it. There’s other scenarios that shackle the mind in this story and in real life. Let me explain as to way I think this.