Are the values and beliefs of contemporary society your reality? Plato’s allegory of the cave describes how isolated the philosophical journey to enlightenment can be. In Plato’s story, ‘the allegory of the cave”, after being freed from the cave, the captive returns to the cave to attempt to free the other captives, and expose them to truth in hopes of enlightening them on their reality; however, because he has witnessed the light, he no longer can see the shadows as he once could before due to his eyes being unadjusted to the darkness. therefore, the other captives violently resisted the rescue attempt, and call proceeded discredit his claims of the truth. This part of Plato’s story, “allegory of the cave”, explains how being philosophical, and attempting to enlighten others on what you’ve learned can be Although the death of Socrates occurred in 399 B.C., society still tends to outcast philosophers who try to enlighten the masses of society on philosophical ways to live their life. I believe people in society today are more subjected to introducing these philosophical views, and values into their lives, but the majority of people in society are not. The reason I feel like philosophy, and societal ideals do not coincide well because the puppeteers in our society have instilled values, and beliefs in society of what a perfect life should consist of. With some of society’s contemporary values and beliefs being the standards of a beautiful person consist of, and the measurements of success being the financial establishment, and lucratively lifestyle of a person, being a general, and appealing guideline to what is important in life it can be hard look past and accept any other views on life. Especially if that consist philosophical knowledge of enlightenment from someone who has stepped away from this hamster wheel race we call
We should begin to look to Socrates for more insight into his infamous quotation. As Socrates stood before five hundred and one men he was convicted of poisoning the minds of the youth in his community. When asked what alternative he would give in alternative to the death penalty, in true Socratic fashion, he rambled on about giving his own punishment would be unjust. Most people would have undoubtedly answered the courts question along the lines of “not death”, but Socrates had an agenda in mind. Before being hauled off to prison, Socrates refuses to give up his philosophizing, because it is only through teaching that he can honor God with his talents. Philosophy is the only way he express himself. If he had allowed the courts to take away his ability to philosophize they were essentially taking away his purpose. In his speech he makes a comparison to a Greek
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
"The Allegory of the Cave" and "The Apology" by Plato explore the methods in which people for themselves, usually through the cultivation of the soul. "The Allegory of the Cave" employs an allegory to highlight the importance of the soul, while "The Apology" focuses on Plato 's beloved mentor, Socrates, and his views on tur value of the soul. Both allegory and dialogue seek to stress the importance of the truth to caring for one 's self. The pursuit of the truth and the care of the self are intricately intertwined; one cannot do without the other. Additionally, both pieces challenge the reader from their complacency and forces them to re-evaluate their lives, calling for lives that better cultivate the soul and take care of the self. From
Often society seeks to thwart the desire of certain people to find and/or face the truth. Examples of this are found throughut literature. Two excellent example of this are Biff Loman from 'The Death Of A Salesman' and Tom Wingfield from 'The Glass Menagerie'. At some point, they both have to face and understand the truth about their lives. Biff is faced with the lies and morals of society obsessed with the corrupt version of American Dream, especially his father, and his inability to pursue his own goals and dreams. Tom is faced with the sad reality of life in his family and the desire to escape it.
The basic premise of Plato’s allegory of the cave is to depict the nature of the human being, where true reality is hidden, false images and information are perceive as reality. In the allegory Plato tells a story of a man who is put on a Gnostics path. Prisoners seating in a cave with their legs and necks chained down since childhood. They are chained in such a way that they cannot move or see each other, only look into the shadows on the wall in front of them; not realizing they have three dimensional bodies. These images are of men and animals, carried by an unseen men on the background. Now imagine one of the prisoners is liberated into the light, the Gnostic path will become painful and difficult, but slowly his eyes will begin to accommodate what he sees and his fundamentalist view about the world will begin to change; soon he sees everything through anarchic thinking and reasons. When he return into the cave, his fellow prisoners don’t recognize him or understand anything he said. He has developed a new senses and capability of perception. This is the representation of the condition of the human nature, we live in a cave with false perception of reality that we’ve been told since childhood, these includes bias belief; but we must realize these present perception are incomplete.
Socrates focuses his philosophy on life entirely on the discovery of knowledge and wisdom, ethics, and the soul. He was obsessed with seeking of knowledge and wisdom: he believed that they are the key to a good life. He went on to state that, “an unexamined life, is a life not worth living.” According to him, knowledge and wisdom correlate to ethical actions, ultimately resulting in a life of happiness, by
Of course, one can never truly escape from the influence of society. A person is born and raised with the beliefs and customs of society, and it will always be a part of someone and will always influence how one thinks, how one reacts, how one speaks, and how one acts. But one may try to supress that immediate thought, the product of society’s influence, and think and react according to one’s new set of ideas.
Society’s perception of what is considered important and worth changing for is flawed because the only way for young people to make a change is to do something drastic. It is part of human nature to feel like being an individual is important, but most of humanity decides to go with the flow and easily slip into society 's cracks. Humanity needs more individuals like Romeo and Juliet that are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in and dismiss society.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World has become a mainstay on high school and college reading lists for a reason; it causes us to rethink our values and ponder just what we’re willing to sacrifice for happiness. Huxley presents us with a brilliantly detailed disoptia where all inhabitants are “happy” yet completely devoid of every other emotion and many characteristics that we commonly associate with humanity. About 2,300 years before Brave New World went to print, Plato had just written The Republic which described his ideal of a utopian society. When reading both works, it is impossible to not notice many similarities between the states presented, however, there are also enough differences between the two to set them apart. Although Huxley’s work
“The Allegory of the Cave”, written by Plato, is a story that presents prisoners who are trapped in a cave and only able to see what is in front of them. There is a fire burning in a distance, and they can only see images in shadows coming from the fire. Since they are trapped in this cave, they believe that the shadows are real, and not just reflections of what really is. The tale goes on to say that one prisoner escaped, and talks about his first perception of the world. In the “Allegory of the Cave”, Plato uses the prisoners in the cave as a metaphor, or an allegory to express ideas about knowledge and enlightenment. Plato’s main purpose for writing the “Allegory of the Cave” is to inform his readers that it is in human nature to believe
Society judging, is something we cannot run away from. Society is inevitable. Mary Shelley demonstrated in her novel how society is ignorant, and looks for the easy way of judging things, which is by only knowing the superficial perspectives. The novel of Frankenstein gives a brief message of how society is, and at the same time it gives us a lesson. We should be less ignorant as a society, and take the time to reflect things before we judge
As one ponders on how to live a good life, many ideas come to mind. Whether this may be wealth, family, or beauty, the early philosopher’s theories need to be taken into consideration. Those early philosophers include Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and The Epicureans. These four committed their lives towards bettering life, and are the basis of most philosophical theories. It is evident that these four need to be read, understood, and discussed to better understand one’s life. They always pondered on the thought of how to have a perfect life and society. When one makes their own theory, based upon these early philosophers, not only do they need to establish a strong belief system, it is required to practice this too. Plato had the most basic of theories, being that only virtue was needed in life to be happy and nothing else. For Aristotle, he used Plato’s foundation and added that external goods, such as wealth, respect, friends, and beauty were all necessary. Without one of these, Aristotle believes that one cannot live a happy life. For the Stoics, they settled on a balanced approached between virtue and external goods, saying that virtue is necessary, yet external goods are preferred too. The Epicureans largely argue the Stoics view, and present that pleasure (tranquility) is the goal of every life, but virtues and friends are required for this. Each theory has many critics, even with Aristotle being a critic of his own theory. None seems perfect, yet all fit today’s modern society. I found that I agree with the Stoics theory the most, and find that any external good is fine as long as virtue is the basis of that person’s life.
Socrates once said “the just man is the much happier than the unjust, but a just man 's life is only pleasant”. Throughout his lifetime Socrates searched for the type of individual who lives the happiest. In eighth book of Plato’s republic Socrates describes five different types of individuals, in which he believes all humans fall under at least once. As a philosopher he also believed that humans would attain happiness once they have found their souls, although he also claims that only philosophers can find their souls. Dr. Joe Freeman provided a lecture discussing democracy in the United States related to the ideologies of Socrates. In the lecture Dr. Freeman provided a pyramid of how Socrates rated humans based on his categories, justice
person has, the less everyone else has), while Socrates argues from the perspective of a common good