...Thinking as a Hobby vs The Allegory of the Cave Plato’s “Allegory of the cave” was one of the most important allegories of philosophical thought. The first theory of knowledge was Plato. He believed that knowledge was more than just wants in front of you or even what you see but something much greater. He believed there is a reason behind everything and that is part of how you achieve a huge part of knowledge. As for William Golding, he seems to expand on the point of a thought and how thinking is knowledge and power. This comes from his essay “Thinking as a Hobby”. Out of these essays, understand that there is a difference between the act of thinking and thinking itself. It destroys the idea of agreement for one to understand and come to the fact of enlightenment and true reality. The idea behind this all is that Plato has a descriptive idea of the cave, and Golding narrates an idea that matches enlighten or the unenlightened....
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...Allegory of the Cave,” Plato presents his abstract view of human nature and truth, whereas Douglass presents his personal journal in “Learning to Read and Write.” Compare and contrast Plato and Douglass' essays and ideas. How might Douglass view Plato's allegory based on his experience? The most basic question that we can ask ourselves is: who and what am I? Moreover, the answer to this question about human nature (what a human being is) will greatly affect how we see ourselves. In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, he managed to let us visualize people living in a big cave, where these people were chained by the leg and by the neck and they couldn’t move. They can only see what is in front of them. He explains to us how the “The Allegory of the Cave” is the education of the soul toward enlightenment. According to Plato, the chains that bind the prisoners are the senses and the prisoners symbolize ignorant people, the raised wall symbolizes the limitation of our thinking. The idea of Plato’s essay describes how most people are trapped in their own world, unaware of what is happening around them. According to Plato the “The Allegory of the Cave” is the common man and it represents all people before they are fully educated. The common person sees nothing but the shadows on the wall of the cave. In Plato’s essay, the fire has a significant meaning to the common man; it is the source of light and the only reality he can see as it sheds light into the cave. Then comes the...
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...●FishBowl 2 on Plato, Coates, and Gregory Rodriguez Answer the JHW questions due today and also complete the following: What happens when a prisoner is released from the den and “compelled to look straight at the light?” What does the prisoner see when he is returns to the cave? What does he then feel about reality? What happens when a prisoner is released from the den and “compelled to look straight at the light?” What does the prisoner see when he returns to the cave? What does he then feel about reality? When the prisoner leaves the cave and looks straight into the light, he is left blind by the extreme brightness of it. However, after a while, he gets accustomed to the light, and he realizes that the world of shadows in which he had lived his whole life was a mere imitation of reality. Consequently, when he returned to the cave, he has not used to the darkness anymore and his peers...
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...The Allegory of The Cave’ by Plato – The Meaning The Allegory of the cave by Plato should not be taken at face value. In essays and exams, whoever is marking it expects you to have a deeper understanding of the meaning of the theory. You can then use these to think about criticisms and then to form your own opinion. The Cave •In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world – empirical evidence. The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding. The Shadows •The Shadows represent the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence ensures knowledge. If you believe that what you see should be taken as truth, then you are merely seeing a shadow of the truth. In Plato’s opinion you are a ‘pleb’ if you believe this (their insult for those who are not Philosophers)! The Game •The Game represents how people believe that one person can be a ‘master’ when they have knowledge of the empirical world. Plato is demonstrating that this master does not actually know any truth, and suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this. The Escape •The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside of the senses. •The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge •His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey when finding truth and wisdom The Return •The other prisoners reaction...
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...“The Allegory of the Cave,” he is explaining in dialogue with question-and- answer form with Glaucon a student questioning the nature of human beings. The analogy of the cave and the prisoners within used to explain his belief. He discusses moral and philosophical problems; the prisoner must overcome to see the light after long periods of imprisonment. The light he refers to as a fire blazing at a distance, is the light the prisoners see while a low wall is along the way. The prisoner look over the wall to find strange images that he has never seen before is compelled immediately to look toward the light. The question then is would the prisoner suffer pain from the glare brought forth by the light, Plato then explains he will require to grow accustom to the light in order to clearly see the new images. Once the prisoner becomes accustom to the sight of the upper world, he will then see the reflection of others and of himself. Plato then explains the reaction the prisoner makes and his thoughts of himself to realize the reason about his own place. The prisoner, as Plato explains, realized that this exposure of new images in the upper world are not of what he was taught to be true in his old place in the den, and the wisdom brought forth by the den along with his fellow- prisoners; merely false notions. The truth the prisoner has seen in the upper world will then become a desire to continue to seek further the truth of things; not yet exposed to him. Plato then demonstrates what...
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...After watching The Matrix and reading the readings from Plato and Descartes you se some differences and similarities between the two. When comparing the hit movie The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes there are many similarities. Some of the ways that they are similar are; In The Matrix you watch or read about a man named Neo who by day is a normal joe, doing normal joe things but, by night is a computer hacker. This is his life, or at least the life that he knows to be true. From the readings of Plato and Descartes we consider what would happen to a man that is trapped in a cave only ever looking forward and can assume that again this is his life, or, at least the life that he knows to be true. What we could understand from The Matrix and the Plato readings both is, that; both men are living lives that they assume are normal or the same as everyone else; because neither of the men have ever known another life, or known that there are things beyond themselves. This makes the first major similarity that, that people only know what is true to them. If a person spends the majority of their life believing that something is one way, then to them that is their truth. The second thing that The Matrix and Plato readings have in common is that both discuss what happens when the above said person would be, “brought to the light.” Both attempts to consider what would happen when the (in a sense) “trapped” person is shown the truth about the life that they are living and shown...
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...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...
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...Plato and Aristotle have similar views on the achievement of the good life but also many important differences. While both Plato and Aristotle believe that the good life is one that attains happiness and that only a philosophical life will bring ultimate happiness which will therefore lead to the good life, the main difference between the two is the status or nature of the good and thus happiness. In this essay I shall explain both Plato’s and Aristotle’s views on the good life and how it should be attained. Plato’s good life is an idealist view, as he came up with the theory of ideas (ideas come first, then the world) The ‘good’ to Plato is somehow different to the actual object we see, as the good is outside the world (in the world of ideas) To ‘see’ the good of ideas we must use our rationality. He believed that the entities are corruptible as they change (they possess becoming) To live a good life one must know what the good life is as an idea. The ‘good’ ‘moral’ and ‘truth’ are all ideas and the ‘Good’ is the idea of ideas. The good is an absolute term; being self-evident, transcendental and consistent. Plato believed that the Good life equals truth which equals knowledge which equals morality. According to Plato, to lead a good life one must have internal self-control – one must know one’s self. Plato also believed that you must have a self-disciplined mind to have a good mind. One way Plato explained his idea of the good life was by using the ‘Leaky jar analogy’ He believed...
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...Tina Bai Knowledge, Reality, Self Professor Georg Theiner 10/1/12 The Implication of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” In The Republic, Plato reveals the overwhelming ignorance of humanity through the allegory of the cave. Plato summarizes his viewpoint of society as a whole through this allegory, portraying the human race as imprisoned in the chains of oblivion, unaware of its own inhibited perspective. A more contemporary philosopher, Umberto Eco, also criticized the state of society in a similar fashion in Travels in Hyperrreality; describing the overwhelming trend of “horror vacui.” The allegory of the cave reveals the importance of education in the journey towards enlightenment-only through instruction can individuals recall the inherent knowledge of the Forms. The significance of the allegory is rooted in Plato’s belief that there exist inherent truths hidden under the superficial surface of society that only enlightened individuals can uncover through education. Plato’s allegory of the cave follows as thus: A cluster of prisoners, having been enclosed in a cave since birth, has never laid eyes on any kind of daylight. Furthermore, these individuals are prevented from turning their heads to look to either side by their bonds, and can consequently only envision what lies straight ahead. Lying posterior to the shackled prisoners is a fire which is subsequently anterior to a wall. A collection of statues sojourn on the top of the wall and are manipulated by a separate...
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...HUT 305, Selected Essay Topics. A- Belief in God shapes the way people live their lives. Belief in God gives people something to hope for, someone to believe in, no matter what their situation in life might be. Monotheistic religions believe in one God, with minor theological differences. Explain the concept of God in all three monotheistic religions. Compare this concept with two different concepts taken from two different religions. B- Plato believed in the ontological dualism. He recognized the role of the senses in shaping a perception of the world but denied its accuracy. For him the ideas, shaped in the world of ideals, are the absolute truth. To further explain his theory, he adopted the allegory of the cave, where an enlightened philosopher would take the human out of their ignorance and into the "light". Explain the ontological dualism of Plato, the role he has given to the Ideal knowledge, and his of the cave allegory in order to explain his views. C- Ibn Khaldoun presented the first dedicated science to the study of societies. In this science, called "El Omran", he introduced the concept of Assabyah – a kind of social solidarity. Explain the role of Assabyah in politics and in the evolution of societies, especially when it comes to the transmission of power from one generation to another. D- Is there a “heroic code” that guides the decisions of the characters in The Iliad? Discuss the values of the Homeric hero, paying particular attention to contrasting...
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...1 Philosophy 101 Essay #1; Plato's Republic 23 September 2013 What does Plato's cave represent? The Allegory of the Cave, the cave represents people who perceive knowledge as something that is seen and heard and that is really what it is not about. These people, in a sense, would be the chained people in the cave. This shows us that people in this cave are in a world of misunderstanding. There are people that live their lives in the dark, which means, they live in just that cave and not know that there is something beyond the cave. They lack the truth because they live in such comfortable lives and that the shadows is all they are known to see. The artifacts that they see that casts these shadows are out of their sight and do not see that these are the real 'truths.' They think that its everything in their lives and try to make sense of these shadows in the best form they can. Then, all of the people play the game of knowing what they know about these shadows. The ones that guess them right and know these shadows very well are the ones that know everything there is to know about these shadows they know about. It is an illusion of what they think is real. They even start to respect the one that knows the most about these shadows that are the 'truths' to them. These artifacts represent the form of Good that they are able to see, and think the shadows are that sort of the form of Good that they see and believe in. Then, Plato supposes that these shadows are not supposed...
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...Essay PHIL 201 July 7, 2014 Essay After reading these pieces I concluded that the central theme is being awaken from a false reality but each piece differs in the action that follow the awakening. The Matrix is set in a futuristic setting, where the theory of being controlled by a massive computer is a real possibility. What I find most interesting is that Plato actually describes the concept of The Matrix, almost as if Plato’s dialogue was used an inspiration. In The Matrix and Plato’s dialogue, humans are not physically living the life they perceive as “real” but are stationary beings who are forced to live a false reality prescribe to them. This is where René Descartes’ excerpt differs from the previously mentioned. The person is aware of possibility that what he knows as true could be false, that how could we know if what we are living is done consciously or if our existence is but a dream. All of the excerpts also rely on the reasoning that the mind is the sole contributor of our existence and our physical senses only respond to what the mind knows. The differences in the readings is based on the actions or possible outcomes that occur once the awakening has taken place. In The Matrix, Neo decides to act and decides to embark on a journey to discover reality not being controlled by a computer. Plato’s dialogue is different because this is based on a hypothetically theory, so while there is no physically action the questions lies in how would people respond to...
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...Stacy Mottola PHIL 201-D05 25NOV2013 Essay 1 Many question whether or not what we are seeing and are experiencing is real or just part of our imagination. This question is one that has been proposed for hundreds of years by philosophers like Descartes and Plato. How is it possible that a Greek philosopher, a philosopher from the seventeenth century and the movie The Matrix can be so similar? It is the intent of this paper to compare and contrast these questions in relation to the movie The Matrix. The main thing that stands out for each one of these is the question of the reality of the world in which we live. Our sense of being is called into question in each of these examples. Are our senses correct or are we simply living in a dream world that is made up? The Matrix is a computer system that has taken control of peoples everyday lives. Each individual is hooked up to this computer that generates a dream world where everyone believes that they are actually living a realistic life. In the Matrix Morpheus a leader of a group of people who have rebelled against this system come to the knowledge that they are not living real lives. In his recruitment Morpheus meets with Neo and attempts to show him the truth. Learning this Neo sees that what you can see, touch and feel are not exactly real, their senses have betrayed them. In the excerpt from Descartes he makes several statements which also question the reality in which our perceptions believe we are actually...
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...itself in strain from political instability. In the following essay the question “how do Plato, John Locke and Nicollo Machiavelli address the concepts of: power, authority and legitimacy” shall be discussed. Reference shall be made on how each theorist addresses the above concepts. John Locke addresses the concept of legitimacy. He agrees with Thomas Hobbes in that “the British monarchy lost some of its authority” (John 1689), but he believed it came about because “the monarchy had tried to exceed the scope of its authority” (John 1689).Locke believes the people were acting `natural’ by being disruptive because the monarchy broke the `contract’ by wanting absolute power. Thomas Hobbes agrees with Locke in that the monarchy “suffered from a failure of authority” (Thomas 1651.part 1) but he believes it came about because the monarchy was careless and didn’t know what was expected from them as a ruler. Plato also addresses legitimacy in the Greek government. Plato believes that we live in a world of illusions and that the Greek citizens executed themselves when they executed Socrates. Plato tells us illusions can be dangerous “allegory of the cave” (Spragens 1997). Machiavelli deals with power and “believes a good state, is a state that is well ruled” (Machiavelli 1513 chapter12) He believes that unrest is caused by the lust for power. And believes power should be worked for and not afforded. In the above essay it is evident how: power, legitimacy and authority affect different...
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...penmanship medal won fairly by her schoolmate, Claude. Claude is suddenly murdered and everyone is taken back by the incident while Rhoda pays little attention to the news. Christine, Rhoda’s mother, finds the penmanship hidden in Rhoda’s Jewelry box. According to Plato, “Last of all he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is,” (869). Christine is seeing the light and moving away from ignorance towards her child. She starts to contemplate whether Rhoda could have been the person responsible for Claude’s death. Christine now suspects Rhoda and questions her about the penmanship. Now, Christine’s attitude and demeanor towards Rhoda changes, as she no...
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