The Allegory of the Cave by Plato (1) Platos allegory of the cave has been interpreted in many different ways by philosophers who belonged to different philosophical tradition. Therefore, it is almost impossible to be sure as to what exactly Plato had in his mind, while describing a situation of two prisoners being locked away in the cave and being forced to make judgments about objective reality by observing realitys shadows. However, given the political context of Platos work, we can suggest that this allegory has ontological applications. It is not by pure coincidence that Plato mentions the second prisoner as such who refuses to leave the cave, after being told about entirely new world outside. By doing this, Plato provides us with the insight on the essence of slavery, as socio-political phenomenon. Apparently, slave is nothing but a person whose sense of freedom has been atrophied. This is why there has been not a single case, throughout the history, of slaves freeing themselves from oppression. Platos allegory helps us to understand why peoples social stratification, in every society, corresponds to the ratio between slaves and free individuals. It also points out to the absurdist essence of idea of universal equality.
(2) Plato viewed the ideal state as such that is being ruled by the caste of philosophers. In order for the individual to become a philosopher, he must be willing to open up his eyes to the new ideas. The second prisoner, in Platos allegory, appears to be incapable of doing it, because he is deprived of metaphysical idealism on biological level. Thus, we can say that allegory of the cave can be thought of as the earliest recorded attempt to realize the true nature of biological evolution on intuitive level. Plato suggests that the material objects of our realm only represent a single aspect of their true identity. In order for the individual to gain a better knowledge of physical object, he needs to ascend to higher existential level, which Plato associates with individuals decision to look straight at the sun.
The Homework on Plato Allegory Of The Cave
The majority of people in school today, and they dont want to be there. School is painful to them. They, the unenlightened, have not seen the light. In Platos Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners can resemble those who do not thirst for knowledge. They seem to be prisoners in their own world. The small bunch of people in schools today is passionate learners, and they yearn for and covet knowledge. ...
By getting out of cave and looking at the sun, the first prisoner transforms his very essence, which in its turn, allows him to attain a higher degree of existential complexity and, therefore, increases his biological value. The second prisoner, who refuses to leave the cave, is the embodiment of dead link of evolution, as Plato viewed it. Just like trilobites, which did not evolve at all, during the course of million of years, while living in dark underwater caves, the second prisoner is also very unlikely to progress, in evolutionary sense of this word. The darkness and stable temperature are the essential components of energetic entropy as something opposite to the process of structuralization through life. Thus, Platos allegory allows us to conclude that the notions of ancient Greek philosophy remain academically veritable, despite their seeming naivety. The allegory of the cave can be interpreted as such that provides people with answer to classical philosophical question what is the sense of life? Life is a process of active biological resistance to the process of entropy. Life struggles with entropy with the mean of increasing the complexity of living organisms. Organisms that had lost its ability of biological transformation begin to act as agents of entropy. The history is nothing but a constant struggle between order and chaos, light and darkness, life and death.
Homo sapiens are nothing but intermediate link between apes and super-men. Therefore, according to Plato, the purpose of states existence is not to provide citizens with bread and entertainment or with security, as it is the case with majority of modern countries, but to encourage them to attain higher levels of ontological awareness, by engaging in activities that are beneficial to society, as whole. Life only has value if it associated with intelligence, which is the reason why it is wrong to refer to it as merely a set of bodily functions. Platos allegory tells us that everything has to do with everything. Every action draws immediate consequence, which cannot be redeemed. Plato is a person who understands more then he knows. His allegory of the cave can serve as a best proof to this statement, as it had not lost its philosophical legitimacy even in modern times.
The Term Paper on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the Non-Material World
The Allegory of the Cave, a dialogue from the Republic written by Plato, is both an existing explanation and reliable representation of the growing and ever present ignorance to the enlightenment of the majority of humankind. This paper will present Plato’s meaning of enlightenment and how it is related to Plato’s Non-Material World. Plato’s brief background will also be highlighted including some ...
Outline: Part one Part two.
