Plato's Allegory Of The Cave In The Republic

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.

Kristen Jakupak Epistemology Philosophy Paper October 5, 2015 Within Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, and Descartes Meditation I, there are multiple similarities and differences in them. Reality is questionable within both of these stories. There is skepticism in them on whether they are truly living, and if it is real, or if it is controlled by something else entirely. In both stories, they also wanted to leave what they understood to be reality, to find what they thought and sensed to be the true reality.

Gabriella Savino Western Civilizations I: Ancient October 4, 2015 Professor Gradie ‘Allegory of the Cave’ At some point in everyone’s life, they have asked: why are we here? What is reality?

Often times, it is assumed that learning does not have negative consequences and leads to one’s enlightenment What people don’t realize is that being thrown into the light can burn. Associating learning with pain is clearly illustrated in both Plato’s Republic and Frederick Douglass’ The Education of Frederick Douglass. Both works represent people who move past their ignorance through the acquisition of knowledge and step into the light, both literally and metaphorically; they become aware of their own situations and with that comes pain. Book seven of Plato’s Republic (trans. 1968) presents the allegory of the cave and the idea that learning isn’t always pleasant.

1. One literary genre from the Old Testament is an allegory. An allegory is an extended comparison where many elements of a story stand for deeper realities like abstract idea, moral qualities, or spiritual realities. An example of this is in Paul's Letter to the Galatians, the story of Sarah and Hagar (Genesis 16:1-6) is interpreted allegorically (Gal 4:21-24). Paul treats Hagar's son Ishmael as an allegorical representation of the fleshly children of Abraham, and Sarah's son Isaac as an allegorical representation of the spiritual children of Abraham, the "children of the promise.

Allusions to Christ or other aspects of religion are found in literature all throughout history. There are many different reasons why authors tie in these elements of religion. It could be to provide characterization or help provide reasoning and explanation for the overall theme. Two well known authors do this in some of their most famous pieces: Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Allegory in Young Goodman Brown In 1835, Nathanial Hawthorne wrote a short story by the name of "Young Goodman Brown" which is seen as an allegory that deals with a deep moral issue, as allegories often do. An allegory is a story written in order to portray an underlying message or symbolic meaning. Hawthorne shows his allegory of a man 's test of faith, and how there is evil in everyone through the characters and the setting of the story.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Diego Velazquez’ Las Meninas are both commentaries about different ways of life. Velazquez gives insight into the daily life of the Spanish monarchy, and Plato, on the other hand, enlightens about the various stages of life on the path to higher knowledge. Though they use different mediums, Plato and Velazquez use a similar framework to illustrate the ways people live. They both use a hierarchical structure to divide their works into pieces that make the works more straightforward for the reader or viewer to comprehend.

“Allegory of the Cave” is what Plato thought about human perception. He believes knowledge is no more than an opinion that one believes is the absolute truth. I believe that “Allegory of the Cave” does relate to life today by our perceptions on different ideas. In the story, the prisoners knew to believe the shadows of the pots, statues and sculptures are real.

Plato, Kant, and Habermas Critical Thinking & Spiritual Consumption The film, Spiritual Consumption, is a story about a society with consumerism and materialism “consuming” individuals. They act as robots and don’t think for themselves as their entire lives are dictated by false idols and social expectations. When Jim, the main protagonist, feels numb from consumerism, he changes his lifestyle and mentality, realizing that his possessions posses him. The story is based on the theories from three philosophers, Plato, Kant and Habermas, and their texts on critical thinking. Jim, while adopting the philosopher’s ideas, embarks on a journey, escaping from spiritual consumption.