Reflection Of Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

Not all of America responded kindly to FSA’s photos and documentaries, or to the New Deal for that matter. Many claimed photographers and filmmakers along with Eastern bureaucrats sensationalized and “exaggerated the damage of the Dust Bowl, had vilified an entire region in order to score political points for the Roosevelt administration” (Dunaway, 2005, pp. 54-55). Though many alleged FSA photos were politically driven, Stryker held steadfast to his ideals and denied they served as government propaganda (Gordon, 2006; Brennen & Hardt, 1999; Stange, 1989). Some have argued the photos themselves were not propaganda, but became propaganda because of how they pushed a specific ideology on the public. Carlebach explains:

Plato compares a number of things in this essay- the material world to the world of ideas, the life of the mind to work of governing, silver and gold to virtue and wisdom. How does he use his comparisons to make his arguments?

Our Unit Two essay was about choosing a lens with which to base our argument about a photo essay by Walker Evans. Not only were we analyzing images, like in Unit Three, but we were also taking into account a multitude of other sources, such as the writings of critics and other photographers, and looking for the relationship between their ideas and ours with regards to the set of images we were studying, which we called our 'data set'. For my essay in particular, I based my argument on the ideas of Richard Avedon in his essay "Borrowed Dogs". My thesis went as follows: "Though Avedon believes that manipulation leads to personal intensity in a portrait, the manipulation of Walker Evans's portraits seems to create meanings that criticize Cuban life, rather than connect their subjects with viewers." As my evidence, I cropped some of Evans's portraits closely around the faces of the subjects, and wrote about how much more powerful they could be if they didn't have such distracting elements surrounding them, making the viewers think less about them as individuals and more about them as symbols of Cuban life.

In “ The Allegory of the Cave” 360 BCE, Plato emphasises that the cave explains human existence and envisions the world as a dark cave, and humans trapped as prisoners in that cave. Using symbolism he supports this statement by demonstrating to his students that our minds conceive the sources of shadows and the material world we live in as false truths. His purpose is directed towards his students, to help others out of the cave, to reveal the burden of false truths also know as the shadows. Plato uses a didactic tone to help his students understand and encourage them not to stay in the cave, but to free themselves and help others become free of the shadows the

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. Socrates claims that “what people in this situation would take for truth would be nothing more than the shadows of manufactured objects”. (221)

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave was an interpretation of the aversion humans have to things that are outside of their experienced reality, as well as a proposed solution.

How does the story "The Machine Stops" echo the sentiments of Plato in "The Allegory of the Cave"?

In “The allegory of the Cave by Plato”, great philosophers offer a theory concerning human perception. Plato described it starting with three prisoners; these prisoners would have face the wall of the cave in a set position. They would not be allowed to move. A fire would be placed behind them with a walkway between. Along the walkway, people would walk carrying different items. These people as well as items would cast a shadow on wall for the prisoners to see. Socrates suggest that the prisoner would start identifying different items and classifying them, “Now if they were able to say something about what they saw and to talk it over, do you not think that they would regard that which they saw on the wall as beings” (Plato 1).

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”.

Plato’s theory, ‘The Allegory of the Cave’, aims to explain the nature of reality and human perception. With this theory of his, he aims to answer questions like ‘why are we here and what is reality?’ He explains this theory as a conversation between his mentor, Socrates and one of his students, Glaucon. Plato claimed that the knowledge gained through our senses is not real knowledge. In fact, real knowledge is the knowledge that is gained through deep philosophical reasoning. Knowledge gained through our senses is very opinionated and thus is not valuable enough.

When the enlightened prisoner returns to the cave “they all laugh at him and say he had spoiled his eyesight by going up there”(Plato __). Plato infers that society will purposely be blind to conform to society’s norms.When the escaped prisoner returns to the cave he “gets his eyes full of darkness” (Plato ___). The freed prisoner explains what the actual objects were that they were seeing were. Plato demonstrates that the ignorance and blindness to the truth is by choice. Plato says the prisoners that are chained up could not fathom the new truths; they are

Truth is often a term that is taken into consideration when one is verbally speaking, but most find it rather difficult to truly define truth. While every person can attempt to uniquely give their own interpretation to what the world regards as truth, the realm of philosophy presents several brilliants ideas about the concept. In general, the study of philosophy recognizes two truths: objective and subjective. Objective truth can be described as truth that has always existed whether one knows it or not, while subjective truth is dependent on the person’s ideas and feelings towards a reality. Influential and well-known philosophers such as Mortimer J. Adler and Plato have contributed thoughts that often present similar ideas about the definition

Plato, a famous Greek philosopher wrote the Allegory of the Cave. He tried to answer some of the profound questions which arose about the nature of reality. He tells the story of 'Allegory of the Cave' as a conversation between his mentor, Socrates (Plato’s mentor), who inspired many of Plato's philosophical theories, and one of Socrates' students, Glaucon (Plato’s older brother). He uses an allegory as a short informative story, to illustrate 'forms' and the 'cave,' in his main work, The Republic (which first appeared around 380 BC). It is one of the most perceptive attempts to explain the nature of reality. 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.

A photograph can mean so much to different people, but it’s ultimate purpose is to capture an important moment in someone’s life and be able to hold onto a physical copy of a memory. Photographs enact a certain nostalgia for the past, the good times or perhaps an important person or location; it’s a memory you want to last indefinitely. It’s a subject many people don’t touch on when they examine a film like Blade Runner (1982), but director Ridley Scott’s film does place an emphasis on the importance of photographs and what they can mean to people. The film depicts photos as a gateway to nostalgia, the immortalization of important figures and how photographs can deceive their owners.