On Communication By Bohm Summary

It is important to listen to each other because we all have opinions that

Kangbo Lu Josh Coito English 122 20 March 2016 Journal #9: “Allegory of the Cave” In Plato’s allegory “The Allegory of the Cave”, he implies that people might born or live in a world of darkness and being unenlightened, and knowledge can enlighten them. Plato develops his ideas by giving an parable of a caveman was being enlightened by the light of outside world and returned to the cave to describe his experience, comparing the people in the real world to the story of the caveman, and explaining why governing is similar to this parable. By using the allegory of the cave with formal diction and educating tone, he exams the reality of our world in order to educate Glaucon that the reality of this world is like the shadow on the world, and the governors of state should be like the enlightened caveman to not only continue attaining knowledge,

In reality, many people live without an absolute knowledge of the world and often times, they are comfortable with this ignorance. Likewise, Plato introduces the idea of this unawareness through The Allegory of the Cave, a short story in his published book, The Republic: Book VII. In his book, he narrates the story of a few prisoners who are held captive in a dark cave, where the only light that shines through is from a fire that burns behind them. He further explains that the prisoners are completely bound and unable to move their body or head. Moreover, he reveals that the captives grew up with no outside communication and consequently, the way of life in the cave was all they knew.

The allegory of the Cave is presented by Plato, as a dialogue between Glaucon and Socrates, the latter being the narrator. Socrates paints a picture of the allegory for readers, as he asks them to imagine prisoners trapped in a cave all their life, facing a wall and unable to move their heads. The allegory can be summed up in three main parts, which are the imprisonment in the cave, departure and return to the cave. The prisoners are misled by the shadows, which they believe to be reality. This is clear as Socrates says, “Then the prisoners would in every way believe that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of those artifacts” (515c).

The Allegory of the Cave In The Republic the great philosopher, Plato, addresses his well known interpretation of how society perceives the world and not reality. The Allegory of the Cave can be symbolize to modern time how people live in a world of ignorance and are yet to be enlightened by the absolute truth. In Book VII of The Republic, Plato asserts his metaphor of the cave that shows the lack of education affects our perception or consciousness of ones surroundings.

According to Carlina Rinaldi (2006), to listen is to be open to others and to what they have to say, is to consider others as subjects that contribute to shared research that each person develops about the meaning of everyday experiences. Listening requires an in-depth understanding of events, situations, ideas, and is free of judgment and prejudices. Listening is a reciprocal process that involves the listener and the one that communicates, recognizes the right to participation of children, teachers and parents, legitimizing their theories and interpretations of the surrounding world (Lino,

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.

Listening breaks down the barriers between individuals by paving the way for mutual understanding and cooperation. Good listening prevents communication gap and facilitates a fair grasp of the objectives and priorities of individuals and institutions. Attentive listening prevents the need for repetitions and thus save precious time. Normally, people listen to improve their knowledge, to obtain information, to follow directions, to be able to solve problems, to share experiences and feelings of joy and sorrow, to express opinions, to give judgments, and finally to learn new

In order for us to freely listen, we mustn’t see conversations as a means to argue. David Bohm would say that communication is about building ideas off one another; but because we hold to one side, our partner cannot express their thoughts genuinely. These concepts are what Bohm calls blocks. Blocks are thoughts that we maintain true to ourselves, and make us vulnerable in a conversation (14). In school we should focus on listening critically to the ideas that are introduced in lectures and form an in-depth connection with the professor and classmates.

In the “Allegory of the Cave”, Plato breaks the story into four main scenes to demonstrate the path to enlightenment for the unenlightened reader. He uses a story of a man trapped in a cave,

Whereas, poor listening skills impede communication. The textbook discusses several types of listeners. The first is the faker, the faker only pretends to be listening. The best way to discover if you are dealing with one of these types is to randomly quiz them on the things that you have communicated to them. Next, is the dependent listener, this type of listener only listens to please the speaker.

“Allegory of the Cave” is a renowned philosophical piece that is highly regarded in World Literature. Teachers and mentors across the world use this piece in many fields of study due to its use of intricate language. The piece is comprised of themes that celebrated authors still offer publications and interpretations on, and it contains a great amount of diverse rhetorical strategies that enrich an individual’s reading experience. Plato wrote this classical piece in tribute to his widely-celebrated teacher, Socrates. The story comprises of a dialogue between Socrates and Plato’s older brother, Glaucon.

“The Allegory of the Cave” exemplifies a path of intellectual transformation that has important parallels to the journey of a hero. Socrates’ description of the Allegory of the Cave represents education and the role of education on the soul. This analogy consists of several stages that highlight the philosopher’s heroic journey. The first stage is an image of cave prisoners who spend their entire lives looking at shadows. The prisoners are “chained not just by their legs but by their necks, so that they can’t move and can only looks ahead of them” (Plato 239).

The state of most human beings is depicted in this myth of the cave and the tale of a thrilling exit from the cave is the source of true understanding. Plato has portrayed the concept of reality and illusion through the allegory of the cave. One of Socrates' and also of Plato's, chief ideas was that of forms, which explains that the world is made up of reflections of more perfect and ideal forms. In the Cave

All human beings communicate either with intention or without intention every single day. According to Barth (2014), Palo Alto Team stated “ one cannot not communicate” in one of their axioms of communication. Communication can be defined as “a social process in which individuals employ symbols to establish and interpret meaning in their environment” (Went & Turner, 2014, p. 5). It can be divided into three models in order to enhance our understanding towards the function of communication, which are mainly linear model, interactional model and transcactional model (Wood, 2009). According to Went & Turner, 2014, there are also different traditions and contexts in communication where it helps us to break down difficulty when we attempt to understand communication theory and their process.