Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Plato's Cave
Plato argues that most of us are like prisoners in a cave who are bound in such a way that we can only see shadows of objects projected on a wall. Not only can we not see the objects that cast the shadows, we cannot even see the objects outside of the cave. A more modern analogy might have the prisoner's watching a movie or perhaps "plugged in" to a virtual reality program. What is Plato claiming about the ordinary person? What is our epistemic state? Do we have any hope in escaping? And most importantly, is Plato correct? In short, what is your interpretation of Plato's allegory of the cave and is the allegory the correct way to view the human quest for knowledge?
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By saying that the ordinary person is like the prisoner in the allegory of the cave, I believe that Plato is claiming that most people are ignorant and only believe in what they see. In this case, that would be the shadows of the artefacts. The artefacts themselves act as the forces that keep the prisoners focused on an artificial reality and not on the truth. If the prisoners only believe in the shadows, then they only know the lowest form of knowledge, imagination, because they are not able to perceive the world as it truly is. Applying this to the modern day analogy, the prisoners would only believe in what they see in the movie. In my opinion, to break free and escape from this would be a great challenge. To get his point across, Socrates gives the example of the prisoner being set free. So now, imagine you were a prisoner. Your entire life, all you have known were the shadows of the artefacts that you see. Now you are freed from your shackles, and see the objects and the fire. Wouldn’t you reject the fact that everything you know is a lie, that your reality isn’t reality at all? You would be content with looking back at the images, because that is all you know. You have grown accustomed to seeing the images on the wall, and therefore have grown accustomed to an artificial reality. In my opinion, most people would be either unwilling or unable to accept the fact that there reality is just shadows.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Corey, I think that using the allegory of the cave Plato believes that the majority of humans are ignorant and do not posses true knowledge of life. Plato’s allegory is started off with the cave, which represents the limits of the prisoners’ knowledge. The prisoners themselves are the ignorant people of the world who can only view things in one way. The fire within the cave represents the good with in the cave, producing the beliefs of the men. The fire produces images on the wall through objects; this shows the lowest form of knowledge a man can obtain, imagination. When the first prisoner escapes and views the real objects he then reaches the second step of knowledge, he sees material objects and has acquired the visible realm and beliefs. Once the man exists the cave he then interacts with the sun, which produces all form of goodness, and attains the last and most difficult form of knowledge, the purer form, reason. Although this allegory might not be the most accurate way to describe humans and their views on life, it is fair to say that some ideas with in the allegory are correct. The prisoners are good representatives of most people because they only view things in one way, and are forced to do so. The man who gets away represents the philosophers, who think in a complete different more complex way. This is why the people who are not willing to view things in other ways, just like the prisoners are when the man who has experienced true reason comes back, dislike the philosophers.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Plato is showing the ordinary person as trapped in this fake world that has been set in front of them. In a way i feel that this idea does hold some truth in that as average American's we tend to go through the same routine day after day and not question why we do it or seek a deeper meaning in life. Thus being like the people trapped in the cave, chained together and going along with what happens day after day. Generally as a culture i believe that we could escape from our mindset, yet I think that we as a society have become content with what we have now and do not want to make the effort to make a change in the community. This analogy for the quest for knowledge I believe is a powerful one that has stood the test of time, and can pertain to any society or culture. Through comparing this time period and our global community today we can see that we are essentially the same in out thinking, but as a race I believe we can change our ways.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Corey and Tom. Both claim that through Plato’s allegory of the cave, human beings are ignorant and naïve to the real world. In another of Plato’s analogies, the simile of the sun, the famed philosopher establishes that in the real world the sun represents goodness itself. He later claims that to know anything you need goodness, so in turn the sun is a source of knowledge in an immaterial world. If one took the outside world and translated it into the cave, the sun might be related to the fire. In Plato’s allegory, the fire represents a source of deception; casting shadows and images that are an illusion of reality. The prisoners who can only look forward, or modern humans as Plato argues, are fooled by this trickery and believe that the apparition that they see are the real truth. These prisoners believe these shadows, what really are imitations of reality, to be true. Through this it can be reasoned that Plato views humans as prisoners who live in a world of deception whom view misconceptions to be true knowledge. Through all of this reasoning, one could go back to the fire and claim that it is a source of deceiving knowledge, beliefs, and possibly even an artificial sun. Even though these prisoners are shackled and truly believe that the deceptive shadows represent true knowledge, they would most likely refuse to leave their cave and enter the outside world. They have grown accustomed to their beliefs, so much so, that if a philosopher entered the cave to liberate these prisoners, they would view him as crazy and full of lies about what is really true. Because of this, it can be assumed that Plato is right in assuming that humans are bound to their beliefs and often confuse deceptions with real knowledge.
ReplyDeletePlato’s allegory of the cave describes the natural state of humans; we are uneducated and therefore we do not know the truest forms. The people think they see reality but truly they are looking at the shadows given to us by the fire (fake light so fake knowledge). We are easily led astray and we are trapped by our own ignorance. Plato argues that education is important because that is the only hope we have of escaping from our own entrapment. The people must be dragged out into the real light and then the educator has to come back down to share that he has found the truest forms. Yet, no one believes him because all they know is the shadows so they think he is crazy. Plato seems to be saying that for the prisoners, it is too late because they already think they know all there is to the world. However, the hope lies in future generations. If they aren’t born prisoners, and are raised with knowledge of the truest forms, then they won’t be entrapped in a cave. The hope is education. I do not believe Plato is correct but I do not think Plato is wrong. I agree that education is important because the future generations need to understand how to deal with the world. Yet, societies have illustrated the ability to survive without education. Someone needs to know how to feed themselves and protect themselves. Natural selection has allowed humans to continue to reproduce because we are able to feed and protect ourselves. Not because we were educated to do so. I think that education is important but humans can and will continue to survive without it.
ReplyDeleteThe Allegory of the Cave has become, in many ways, more relevant today than it was in Plato’s time. Nowadays, people spend enormous amounts of time using technology that is convenient. This connivence is wherein lies the danger. Just as the shackled prisoners in the cave, we welcome ideas and false realities because it is convenient. It is much simpler to allow our world to be shaped by the imitations or shadows that we see. These “shadows” today can be anything from a news report to facebook. Both are convenient venues to learn about the world, but are they the truth? Aren’t there people and politics behind these facsimiles that want us to believe their version of the truth. Facebook pages are carefully constructed and edited versions of people that often times do not reflect the real truth. The news is known to be flawed, biased, and incomplete for a number of reasons; the chief reason being that there is always a political motive to encourage people to believe a certain reality. These are just two examples of easily accessible realties that do not always reflect the truth, but there are more. And in all of these cases there are forces that create these facades--they are the fire and the material objects. We just call it propaganda. To escape the shackles and realize that we are being fed untruths is not easy; it involves careful examination of what you are told and the realization that those sources we have come to trust may not be trust-worthy. But even once a person realizes this they must leave the cave, discover the true truth and see the sun. This is harder because it requires vast knowledge, great perception, and a sense of worldliness. I believe there are very few people that are capable of this last revelation.
ReplyDeleteThe Allegory of The Cave represents the different states of the human condition. Those who limit their knowledge and do not desire to discover the truth are represented by the prisoners in the cave. Their ignorance is what prevents them from seeing the truth of reality and all that is pure and good. The prisoners in the cave have the option to escape, however choose not to. Plato uses this allegory to criticize society’s knowledge and yearning for the truth. Most individuals are satisfied with the limited understanding he or she withholds and chooses not expand his or her knowledge and understanding in fear of being “blinded by the light.” Plato’s allegory suggests that what we perceive most about our world is through material appearances and false representations of reality. For example, what we view on a computer screen, in a movie, on TV, in a textbook, or any other source of information, is what influences our understanding of the world. More importantly, however, I believe that Plato is expressing that not only are we being exposed to only part of the truth, we CHOOSE not discover the full truth. Most of us live a life of illusion, and make a conscious effort not to expand our knowledge. I believe Plato’s allegory demonstrates that we all have the potential to escape from these illusions and learn the truth; however an individual with the desire to do so is rarely encountered. This is evident because in the allegory one prisoner was able to escape and see the sun (aka the purest form of knowledge) and report his new understanding to his fellow prisoners. However, more commonly, we escape but like the other prisoners who escape, we are blinded by the sun. This symbolic of the man who is unable to adjust to the newly acquired knowledge and decides to discontinue his journey of escape because he is overwhelmed and scared.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Plato is correct. I feel that often we choose as a society not to dig for the truth beyond the surface of understanding. I also believe that in the midst of finding the “sun” we choose to turn around in fear of learning of what he have been missing out on our entire lives. We are scared to find that what we so strongly believed in as true can be instantly proved as false. In other words, I feel that Plato is saying our lack of desire to discover true knowledge stems from our fear of discovering the inconvenient truths of life.