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Religion as asource of moral value
Religion as a source of values
Religion as asource of moral value
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People today are just like Plato described them to be in his “Allegory of the Cave” when it comes to being passionate about their beliefs. Everyone has at least one cause that they are passionate about, such as protecting human rights. Individuals have these passions because they help to shape who they are. Plato uses metaphorical language to explain how the prisoners in the story are very closely related to people’s passion today. On page 3 of the Allegory, it says, “just consider; if such a one should go down again and sit in his own seat, would he not get his eyes full of darkness coming in suddenly out of the sun?” The use of metaphors in this quote is crucial to describing both the minds of the prisoners and people today. First,
the sun (the light) describes the new knowledge that the prisoner obtained. People today tend to become steadfast about causes that they are passionate about, causing them to not look at the larger picture. Once they do though, they are blinded. Secondly”darkness” presents feelings of evil, which is true because the prisoner is returning to his old, unreal setting after seeing what is real and doesn’t know what to make of his old life. In society today, if one were to see the larger picture, such as the impact of actions, they would not be able to go back to previous times. Finally, the author uses the eyes as an entrance point for this knowledge, but, it is the mind that receives new and old ideas, creating a personal conflict for anyone. In other media, like Homer Hickam’s Rocket Boys, Homer’s father doesn’t understand why his son is so interested in building rockets he is passionate about his coal business. However, as the story progresses, the father comes around because of newfound knowledge and begins to support Homer’s endeavours. A second example is the movie “Liar Liar,” which stars Drew Carrey. In the movie, Fletcher Reed, played by Carrey, is so passionate about his job that he would be willing to lie to get farther in life. However, at the end of the film, he sees the bigger picture and sets his priorities straight.
In society it is a person’s duty to teach others what they do not know. People do not need to tell others of their knowledge, but in order for society to function together people must all be taught the basics of reality. In the parable “Allegory of the Cave” the author and philosopher, Plato, uses hypothetical situation, rhetorical questions, and diction to tell his audience that a person’s reality depends on the environment they are raised in, and how it is the responsibility of the ones knowledgeable to teach others so society can thrive with most of the same beliefs.
When the prisoner got out of the cave “he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners.” Plato says that the knowledgeable prisoner should “become happy on the change, and pity them?” The prisoner would share the truth with the others while the giver kept the truth or the “light” from the citizens. Another difference is that the receiver chose to know more about the truth and not stay in the perfect black and white world. In the cave, the escaped prisoner tried to tell the others about the real world, but they chose not to listen to him because they are so stuck into the knowledge that has been given to them, which makes them think that the knowledge that the escaped prisoner has is a
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” explains his beliefs on education of one’s soul and the core of the way they shape themselves. The rhetorical devices that Plato represents inside of his story explains how much freedom is worth in this world. The deeper meaning inside of what Plato describes can further be found out once a reader realizes the type of rhetorical devices are being used. For example, Plato portrays prisoners being locked inside of a cave without a way out. These prisoners never got to see the outside world, yet he mentions they “see shadows” which explains they are only able to catch a glimpse of reality from the outside. Plato’s use of imagery gives us a mental picture on the tease we may feel to notice reality but not be able to experience it. In reality, we do not value freedom as much as we are supposed to. We seem to not see the world as he sees it. With the help of personification, Plato uses human like characteristics to describe non-living things to give
This is no easy task for “if this man went down into the cave again and sat down in his same seat, wouldn’t his eyes-coming suddenly out of the sun like that-be filled with darkness?” (Plato, 5). Socrates is explaining that after becoming educated about the real truths it would be hard for a person to go back to a life where those truths are rejected. The freed man must use his reason to understand that those people in the dark still believe the shadows on the wall are real truths. They have not experienced for themselves what it means to be educated by the light and the man who has seen the light must proceed with patients and caution while trying to guild the prisoners out of the dark. He understands the struggle the prisoners will encounter, but through his understanding of his faith he knows not give up on the prisoners. This is because after he had become educated he was able to understand that putting his faith in God meant saving the prisoners. However, once they have reached the light it is up to them to decide what they truly want to put their faith into. So the man who has already seen the light will be understanding if a person chooses to follow a different faith based on the common truths they have experienced. For then, that person will have experienced the journey in becoming educated about the truths of their religion, and can use their reason to decide they want to follow a different faith. Similarly, in “The Confessions” Augustine describes his journey in discovering the truths about Christianity which he ultimately puts his faith
The flaw that Plato speaks about is trusting as real, what one sees - believing absolutely that what one sees is true. In The Allegory of the Cave, the slaves in the caves know that the shadows, thrown on the wall by the fire behind them, are real. If they were to talk to the shadows echoes would make the shadows appear to talk back. To the slaves "the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images." (Jacobus 316).
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a story being told by Socrates to Plato’s brother, Glaucon. Socrates tells of prisoners in an underground cave who are made to look upon the front wall of the cave. To the rear of the prisoners, below the protection of the parapet, lie the puppeteers whom are casting the shadows on the wall in that the prisoners are perceiving reality. Once a prisoner is free, he's forced to look upon the fire and objects that once determined his perception of reality, and he so realizes these new pictures before of him are now the accepted forms of reality. Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and the way they might naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they need perpetually seen as a pleasing and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief."
The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand abstract reality requires the understanding of mathematics and finally the forms or the Ideals of all things (the world outside the cave). But our understanding of the physical world is mirrored in our minds by our ways of thinking. First comes imagination (Socrates thought little of creativity), then our unfounded but real beliefs. Opinion gives way to knowledge through reasoning (learned though mathematics). Finally, the realization of the forms is mirrored by the level of Understanding in the Ways of Thinking. The key to the struggle for knowledge is the reasoning skills acquired through mathematics as they are applied to understanding ourselves. The shadows on the cave wall change continually and are of little worth, but the reality out side the cave never changes and that makes it important.
Freedom in mind, freedom in nature, and freedom in subjectivity of individual are three kinds of freedoms. However, freedom should be expressed within the limits of reason and morality. Having freedom equals having the power to think, to speak, and to act without externally imposed restrains. As a matter of fact, finding freedom in order to live free is the common idea in Plato with "The Allegory of the Cave"; Henry David Thoreau with " Where I lived and What I lived for"; and Jean Paul Sartre with " Existentialism". Generally, Plato, Thoreau, and Sartre suggested that human life should be free. They differ in what that freedom is. Plato thinks it is found in the world of intellect, Thoreau thinks freedom is found in nature, and Sartre thinks freedom is found in subjectivity of individual.
What is truly real, and what is not? This question is one which has been pondered deeply throughout human history, and it seemingly has no definitive answer. To understand what is truly a part of reality, and what isn’t, may be an impossible feat. However, two famous works created by humans from two distant time periods attempt to dissect and analyze this philosophical question. The first, The Allegory of the Cave, was written by the great Greek philosopher, Plato, who was born in 428 B.C. in Athens, Greece. The Allegory of the Cave is a piece of a larger work of Plato’s, The Republic, which is a collection of works concerning political philosophy. The Republic is his most famous work and what he is best known for in today’s world. The second
In the contemporary world , culture refers to something as vast as the distinctive way of life of an entire community. Culture is everywhere and everyone has it; it is the mass of ideas, traditions, habits, stories, beliefs, and perspectives on life passed on to us from generation to generation through literature, language, art, myth, religion, family, and various other social institutions. Plato had many different ideas when it comes to human behavior and philosophy. Some of those things can be applied to today’s society, some of them can’t. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which is probably his most famous theory, as well as Krishnamurti’s essay on cultural conditioning of a mind, they both focus on cultural values and living within a culture and can still be seen in today’s society.
In the beginning of the essay, Socrates creates the setting by creating an illusion of a cave, prisoners and the sun. The prisoners are trapped in a cave and are chained head to toe. They have only been able to look at the cave wall their entire lives. There is a fire behind them so that object’s shadows can be seen on the cave wall. Because of this, the prisoners believe that the objects they see on the cave wall are real. One prisoner is dragged out of the cave and is forced to open his eyes in the
Do we really understand the world we live in and see everyday? Is our everyday perception of reality a misinterpretation, which somehow we can’t break free from? A famous Greek philosopher by the name of Plato sought out to explain this in an experiment he called the Cave Allegory. I will discuss what the Cave Allegory is as well as talk about the movie Interstellar, which is a great example of Plato’s Cave Allegory and how it relates to Plato’s ideas. The question we have to answer first is, what is Plato’s Cave Allegory?
Plato’s allegory of the cave include the light, the objects, and the shadows. The novel named “The Picture of Dorian Grey” contains a purposeful meaning for each key component. In the cave, individuals are shown the shadows of puppets which they consider their reality; however, it’s only a “fake” representation of reality. Just as Dorian Grey’s beautiful appearance was merely a “fake” copy of himself when he was pure and innocent, it never disappeared because of his immortality. Yet, when the individuals have been shown the objects, they are skeptical about the “true” reality, not knowing that they are seeing the truth behind the shadows. Similar to the picture of Dorian Grey, which portrayed his ghastly appearance, contained his true-self
In the story “Allegory Of The Cave” it shows a life lesson on how individuals can act stubborn in the world because they are not educated or aware of certain artifacts. In this essay i will give you examples of how real life situations relate to the story “Allegory Of The Cave”. In Plato’s story “Allegory Of the Cave” there are a group of prisoners that have been chained in a dark cave their whole life not being able to turn back at all. The only contact they have with the outside world is seeing the shadows of the things that pass behind them. Then one prisoner becomes free and is able to explore the outside world. When the freed prisoner steps outside for the first time in his life the beaming sun blinds him but then gets used to the sun
Our society so values education that sociologists have recognized the problem of "over-education" (Hadjicostandi). Many people are spending years pursuing degrees which they simply do not need for the jobs they perform. It is therefore prudent for students to question whether pursuing a liberal education is really as important as our society believes. What is the point of a college education? Does it have any purpose beyond its material benefits. Are these benefits worth their cost? These are important questions that need answering. In the end, we may see that there is far more to this debate than simple accounting. Perhaps what makes education worth pursuing is that it gives us the freedom to makes these kinds of decisions about what is best for us.