Sunday, September 15, 2013
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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When Plato uses the analogy of the cave, I feel that he is saying a lot about people in a society. More specifically, he is talking about ordinary people, or those who are not philosophers. Plato claims that these people do not actually see physical objects for what they are, but most people only see the projected images of these objects. By saying this, I do not believe that he is claiming ordinary people to be ignorant, but more as them being naïve to the world that is around them. By only being able to see the projected images of objects and not the actual object themselves, the people are limited to the amount of knowledge that they can actually receive and retain. People do, however, have the ability to escape their chains and thus gain more knowledge. Those who do this and reach the outside world are able to see the physical objects for what they are and the world for what it is. The ones who do this are the philosophers of the society. I do agree with Plato on some parts if one were to use this definition of the analogy. I believe that those who thirst for more knowledge could be considered as philosophers; however, I believe that the ability to break loose of the chains that hold the common people down isn’t restricted to one group of people. Whoever has the desire to break free of their chains has the ability to go forth and gain more knowledge of the world.
ReplyDeleteIn Plato's mind, the cave represents public opinion. The slaves who are trapped inside the caves aren't physically restrained, but mentally restrained. They have spend the duration of their lives listening to values which they were made to believe and have developed their own opinions through this common thought. The chains represent this restraint and how they really can't think on their own; their thoughts are chiseled to what the public thinks as a whole. The outside of the cave is the truth. The public opinion isn't the truth, it's what is to be popularly believed. The sun represents the real knowledge and the freedom to think completely based on ones beliefs, not what the public necessarily believes. The fire on the inside of the cave represents a false light, or a false version of the sun. Although it provides light, or knowledge, it isnt true knowledge. It is manmade knowledge. The sun on the outside of the cave represents freedom of thought. On the inside of the cave, laws prevent the slaves from thinking on their own. They are restricted on what they can think through what is purely accepted in society. The drawings on the wall of the cave also represent this false hope. It represents a lack of freedom and allows the slaves of the cave to think in a one- dimensional kind of way. Some of the slaves are willing to stay in the cave, with the security of knowing that although their thoughts are limited, their views will consistently be accepted and they can live an intellectually normal life. The slaves who attempt to escape the cave want their intellectual freedom. They actually prefer to break away from the norm. I believe that this is the correct way to view the human quest for knowledge because one must be able to break away from public opinion to form their own thoughts and contribute to society with these individual thoughts.
ReplyDeletePlato’s cave analogy is designed to depict the states of knowledge of various people. In this scenario, those who are restricted to only seeing the shadows of objects cast by a fire are meant to represent those that accept the physical world at face value. These are people that simply accept that objects interact in certain ways simply because they do – they never search for any meaning or explanation behind occurrences. Next, there are the people that break free of their chains, and see the fire that casts the shadows. These are the people that study the sciences in hopes of understanding our physical world. They wish to learn why things are the way they are, and they’re willing to put in the effort to explore and discover. But, Socrates argues that there is a group of people that go even further, these are the ones that exit the cave entirely, and see the brightness of the sun. According to Socrates, these are the philosophers, who see the world for what it really is, even beyond the physical forms we interact with. In Socrates’ analogy, the philosophers have knowledge far beyond the scientists, a type of knowledge that Socrates implies is much more “real.” In my opinion, this is not true, philosophy and science are just two branches of the same journey – both of these groups want knowledge, and they seek it in different ways. The physicist might learn about the laws that govern our physical universe, while the philosopher studies the meanings and ideas behind our world. While Socrates appears to say that philosophy is a step beyond science, I would argue that both of these studies are a way of “breaking the chains” and looking beyond the shadows.
ReplyDeletePlato’s analogy of the cave is his commentary of the masses of his world. Plato claims that ordinary people not only don’t see reality, nor a material, false reality, but a SHADOW of that material, false reality. Plato also claims that they are so perfectly satisfied with their subjective misinterpretation of reality that they will do nothing to change their environment or ideals. The next level of people Plato analyzes are those attempting to understand the truth, or those who have escaped from their bonds and see the artifacts that created the shadows. These are the philosophers in training, if you will. Those who attempt to see the truth but are still one crucial step away. The ones who have reached the outside and truly see reality, the philosophers, represent the highest tier of people in this analogy. These are the people basking in goodness, the ones who are meant to re-enter the cave and teach the masses the truth of reality. However, upon their return, the people still in the cave taunt them, for their knowledge of the truth has forced them to forget everything they know about the untruth. In the analogy, they cannot see as well in the dark as they are used to the light. This persecution from the masses is the main reason why the truth of philosophy is so rare.
ReplyDeleteI don’t agree with Plato holding philosophers over all as the only ones who know the truth, and the only ones who can “fix” the masses. However, this does seem like a fairly accurate analogy of the flow of truth and knowledge. While philosophers may not be the only ones with the answers, those who do know truth are often shunned by the stubborn masses. In this I believe Plato is correct.
I believe that when Plato talk about the cave, he is using it as an analogy for the world he lived in. The people who were chained were just ordinary citizens, and their lives were nothing but a fake society cast upon them by the puppeteers, who symbolize the leaders of the world. They had given people a false life to live with uncertainties and danger lurking all around them, yet they do not even know it. The people who are able to escape the cave are Plato's interpretation of philosophers who are able to see outside the world that is forced upon them. Yet some of the people who are blinded by the light are the people who want to escape and see the real world, but are not yet ready to take it all in. I believe that in this analogy Plato does address that humans by nature are on a quest for more knowledge. Many philosophers know this because they will spend their whole lives looking for answers to life's great questions. However, Plato seems to bring up a point of saying that humanity is not ready to receive that knowledge as a whole, which is why only true philosophers are able to escape the cave in which they are chained in. In a way, Plato is trying to start an argument that philosophers and only philosophers are able to gain this knowledge, because they know that what they live in is a lie. I do not agree with Plato's analogy of the cave that philosophers are the only ones who are able to obtain knowledge of unknown power but I do believe that humanity as a whole is not ready to see beyond the images being cast upon them.
ReplyDeleteIn Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Plato makes several claims about Humanity as a whole. Firstly, he believes that every person is simply a slave mentally. In the cave, the ordinary person is subject to perceptions of reality imposed by some higher power. The average person is chained down, unable to move their head in any direction. The only things they will ever see are the images on the cave wall. However, this is not necessary even representations of reality. Plato believes the epistemic state of the average person is one of ignorance. In his opinion, the average person will never know truth. In this depiction, the only people that actually know reality are the people controlling the shadows on the wall (to a limited extent), and the few people that managed to escape. He is very vague regarding the identity of the “puppeteers,” but states that those who escaped are indeed philosophers. Becoming a philosopher is the only chance of escaping the cave.
ReplyDeleteI for one though have my own interpretations of the Allegory of the Cave. I do agree that the average person is the prisoner chained down, forced to look at the images on the wall. However, I believe that the person controlling the images, or the puppeteer, is relative to every person, and is arguably the most complicated part of this depiction. In my opinion, for some people the one controlling the relics of reality could be anything from their parents to the government. Anyone that tells a lie, in a sense, alters the relative reality of the person they are lying to. Plato is I believe intentionally vague about this area, because he does not know what the answer is. All we know is that the people controlling the images only know a sliver of what reality is, or rather what it isn’t. The second part I disagree with Plato about is his interpretation that simply Philosophers know truth. Unless he qualifies what a philosopher is to a greater extent, this is not sufficient. In modern times, I would argue that simply having a degree in the field is not enough to be able to know reality. Rather, I believe the only way to escape the cave is through being lead out by someone who has truly seen the light. It is impossible to think, and then escape.
Plato's metaphor of society being in a cave is partially true, but with a few flaws in the argument. I would agree that many people do live under a shell of ignorance with respect to the truth in general. For example, the U.S. government withholds a substantial amount of information from the general public whether or not that is what U.S. citizens actually desire. They tell us what we want to hear or what's easier to comprehend, and because of this, we are only able to see the "shadow." However, the question arises: can we know the complete truth about everything in this universe? Certainly not; neither theoretically nor practically. That leads me to believe that if you can't know everything, who is the true "enlightened one," and who is the person who sees shadows? Is it just that we all see shadows, but each person's individual shadow is more opaque or transparent that another's? If so, because of this preface, it does not actually matter who knows more or who is enlightened or who is casting the shadow upon somebody else. What does matter is that an individual learns more and obtains more knowledge in order to diminish that shadow. Otherwise, we will perpetuate a repetitive, stagnant world and will never learn from our mistakes. This being said, I believe that escaping from Plato's Cave is not only possible, but also our best interest in life.
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ReplyDeleteThe cave is used to describe how, in Plato’s opinion, the social classes are separated by different levels of knowledge and that the class with the highest level of knowledge should be the ruling class. This argument is an illustration of the argument in chapter 6 that the social classes are fundamentally different and the argument in chapter 8 that philosophers should be kings.
ReplyDeleteThe commoners are represented by the people who are chained down and are forced to stare at the shadows on the wall. They will never see the objects that cast the shadows, and so they will never know reality of have knowledge.
The aristocracy is represented by the man who has broken free of his shackles but is still in the cave. He no longer sees the shadowy imitations of reality and can instead look towards the opening of the cave. However, he cannot see what lies outside the cave and therefore does not know reality or knowledge. Where he is different from a commoner is that he knows there is something else that exists besides the distortion of knowledge (shadows) but he does not know exactly what it is.
The philosopher is the one man who breaks his chains, goes to the mouth of the cave, and lets his eyes adjust to the sun outside so that he can see what lies beyond and thus know true reality and have true knowledge. No other man besides a philosopher can see past the sun’s intense, blinding light because no other man has the disposition to try.
The philosopher king is the philosopher who chooses to then turn away from the mouth of the cave and go back into the cave to help the society of commoners. He chooses to live in a society where only the distortions of reality exist because not only can he pretend to decipher the shadows on the wall to the satisfaction of the commoners, but he also knows the truth behind those shadows. Thus he is the best equipped to rule the society because he can blend in and because he knows what is best.