Admiral "Bull" Halsey Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Plato’s Allegory of the Cave indicates that we rely on our perceptions to know the truth about existence then we would know fair little about it. The senses are not reliable and their perceptions are not perfect because perceptions are only how we as individuals view things and not how they truly are. The prisoners in the cave are much rather like we people because they believe the things they see are how they truly are, much the way we believe the things we perceive to be the truth. The cave is like the world we live in because the things we see only resemble their true forms, much they way the shadows on the wall were only resemblances to that of their physical form. We people are like the prisoners of the cave because we are chained by our common senses to what we recognized to be the whether true or false. The darkness within the cave is like a figure that revolves around us for our eyes not being able to see in the dark how things physically are because sight is a sense that we can not rely on to see the truth even in the light. The shadows represent the objects we assume to be true in our world. Opinion gives way to knowledge through reasoning and understanding. It is true that when we can see things from two different perspectives we have a little better perception of how they truly exist. Any thoughts and/or opinions with regards to Plato's Allegory of the Cave? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mufasa Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 I'm not such a big fan of Plato myself. I prefer Aristotle or Nietzsche, but I like Plato's cave allegory. I'm not sure if he's 100% accurate with this his belief exactly, but the symbol of the cave remains valid. That you have to break away from the norm in order to actually see the truth. Thought that really ties in with Nietzsche's beliefs more than anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral "Bull" Halsey Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Plato does bring up excellent points of how we exist and how we live through our daily lives as a human being. The question remains as to how would the prisoners in the cave will react if he/she will be free from their chains... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mufasa Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Plato does bring up excellent points of how we exist and how we live through our daily lives as a human being. The question remains as to how would the prisoners in the cave will react if he/she will be free from their chains... It's hard to say. It's hard for us to imagine a world that is completely different from what we know. Just thinking about the endless possibilities can make one go insane. I mean, imagine being thrust into a world that is completely different from everything you knew to be true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral "Bull" Halsey Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Hmmm...that's true. But sort of to speak like the prisoners trapped it the cave: we would have no knowledge whatsoever of the outside world and we would automatically assume what we think. Going back to Plato's theory of how human beings interact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doom103 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I really want to read said piece of work, how long is it anyways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral "Bull" Halsey Posted November 4, 2008 Author Share Posted November 4, 2008 (edited) It's written like in the BCE. Yeah...it's a really old piece of work. Edited November 4, 2008 by 安室 奈美恵 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandmanccl Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Doom Dragon, you should take a philosophy class once you get up to college level. It's pretty cool reading stuff that's influenced some of the greatest minds in even our current generation today, let alone since ancient times. Plato's allegory of the cave actually came from him, didn't it? I know the vast majority of stuff Plato wrote was actually about Socrates, his mentor. It's been awhile so I got a lot of it confused in my head. I remember thinking Immanuel Kant had a lot of awesome ideas weighted in some terribly baggaged language. What any of that was, I can't remember anymore. Le sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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