In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, a story is told of chained prisoners in cave that can only see right in front of them. There’s a fire that burns behind them and they perceive only what shadows they see. These shadows were all they knew and to the prisoners these shadows were real. One prisoner breaks free and leaves the cave to which he discovers the blinding light of reality. The reality he and the other prisoners had their backs turned to. The escaped prisoner realized his life was a lie and that the shadows and the voices he thought were coming from them were a great big lie. Through this Plato teaches the reader that perception is not always reality especially when that perception isn’t their own discovery rather another's forced ideas. In relation to today, the stereotypes of race, culture, and gender in the American media have played the role of the shadows that cause discrimination and judgement towards to innocent people.
Gun violence and mass shooting terrorist attacks have
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The perception of the shadow would be the worst threat to society. A wild savage who must be monitored or incarcerated for the safety of the world. Black men in the media are seldomly shown to be powerful and successful rather they are shown to be thugs and aggressive criminals. These ideas are the reason why police officers can use blackness alone to say they are threatened enough to draw their weapon upon arrest or be more physical, which led to the multiple cases of fatal police brutality against black men such as Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner. The most honored black men in the media are athletes but had they not been gifted with supreme athletic talent they’d still be victim to people clutching their belongings a little tighter next to them on the train or a stop and frisk from a cop who think he sees a “suspicious
How does the story "The Machine Stops" echo the sentiments of Plato in "The Allegory of the Cave"? "The Machine Stops," The two main characters, Vashti and her son Kuno, live on opposite sides of the world. Vashti is content with her life, which, like most people of that world, she spends producing and endlessly discussing secondhand 'ideas '. Kuno, however, is a sensualist and a rebel. He tells Vashti that he has visited the surface of the Earth without permission, and without the life support apparatus supposedly required to survive in the toxic outer air, and he saw other humans living outside the world of the Machine.
Using several examples, my intention is to first bring attention to the fact that black men are feared in public spaces and then demonstrate how the United States government uses fear as a form of social control of black males. Through the use of unjust laws and policies – namely the government’s role in the creation of poor black neighborhoods and their targeting black men during the war on drugs – the U.S. has been implementing racial inequality and creating stereotypes. As stereotypes about black men are created and perpetuated, innocent men are viewed as a threat and treated as
In “The Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoner was ignorant of the true nature of their reality and was limited by their perception of the world. In Plato, Socrates illustrated an image of a prisoner chained to the cave wall their whole life, facing only a blank wall. Behind them was a fire burning that was casting a shadow. They believe this casted shadow was their only reality. However, one of the prisoners made a bold attempt to free himself and escape outside the cave.
One’s perception might not be the truth and one’s perception might not be reality, but Avi’s novel “Nothing But The Truth” and Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”display the difference between truth,perception and reality. The texts interestingly approached the ideas similarly. In the “Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato a liberated prisoner was once trapped in a cave since birth. The darkness and shadows were all the prisoner once knew until liberated.
In life, the world one lives in is always assumed to be the reality, without anyone questioning its credibility. As Iris Murdoch once said, “[People] live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. ”(Iris Murdoch Quotes). In The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, prisoners are trapped in a cave and chained so that they are to face a wall and only see the shadows of objects that pass behind them.
In the short story “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, he talks about how because of his race he is feared and discriminated upon. While in New York, Staples walks during the night and is mistaken for a mugger or a rapist because of his race and his large figure. People are very hesitant in the world today because there has been such a great amount of crime. Staples sharing his stories of people’s reactions shows how many assumptions can be made about a person simply based on the color of their skin.
Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society. The allegory of the cave is an understanding of what the true world is and how many people never see it because of their views of the society they are raised in.
1) In the allegory of the cave, Plato’s main goal is to illustrate his view of knowledge. A group of prisoners have been chained in a cave their whole lives and all they have ever been exposed to were shadows on the wall and voices of people walking by. The prisoners in the cave represent humans who only pay attention to the physical aspects of the world (sight and sound). Once one of them escapes and sees the blinding light, all he wants is to retreat back to the cave and return to his prior way of living. This shows that Plato believes enlightenment and education are painful, but the pain is necessary for enlightenment and it is worth it.
In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave the people think that their entire reality is the shadows that they see on the walls of the cave. Plato explores the truth and criticizes that humanity does not question what is real. Plato explores that the human understanding and accepting of what is real is difficult and
Plato tells of a group of prisoners held in a dark cave chained to the walls. These people have never stepped outside into the world and can only experience shadows that are displayed on the opposite side of the cave through the light outside of the cave. One of the slaves, now liberated steps outside of the cave and is able to experience reality, or what we can distinguish as objective truth. After returning to explain to the other what he has seen there seems to be quite a difference in opinions(Plato). In his article Plato’s Cave, T.F Morris attempts to dissect Plato’s allegory and explains his belief that “… the shadows on the wall of the cave correspond to what we call reality…(Morris 417)”
Plato’s Republic, Book 7, talks about the metaphor referred to as "the allegory of the cave. " This metaphor in philosophy is use to describe the importance and effect education or lack of education has on the human mind. In book VII, education is referred to as a light that brightens the different paths that exist in life. It helps open the human mind to things that it was unaware of. Another point made in book VII, was that by educating yourself you become less ignorant to what is out there in the world.
Socrates’s allegory of the cave in Plato’s Republic Book VII is an accurate depiction of how people can be blinded by what they are only allowed to see. The allegory does have relevance to our modern world. In fact, all of us as a species are still in the “cave” no matter how intelligent or enlightened we think we have become. In Plato’s Republic Book VII, Socrates depicts the scenario in a cave where there are prisoners who are fixed only being able to look at the shadows on the wall which are projections of things passing between them and the light source.
#2 Plato’s Allegory In Modern Day Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is about the human perspective and enlightenment. In todays society Plato’s allegory is still relevant and is deeply rooted in education. College students are a perfect analogy for the “Allegory of the Cave”. We are told from the very beginning that we need to have an education to be successful in life.
Searching for the truth is very challenging, as the world today entrenched in lies. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” briefly tells a story about cavemen being chained on most parts of their body, restring all movement including their head, since childhood. Then, he discussed the consequences inflicted onto the cavemen, specifically their perspective towards the truth after being chained for a long period of time in the dark cave, which resembles many events occurring in a person’s daily life. Based on the discussed effects, the author argues that human beings should always seek the real meaning of truth.
To begin, I will remind the reader of the symbols and the descriptions Plato used in his allegory; The Cave - Keeps people trapped, forces people to believe our current knowledge is true. The Shadows - Are the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence, meaning is received by the senses, ensures knowledge.