The "Allegory of the Cave" presents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually; his idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves; his faith that the universe ultimately is good; and that a good society must be one in which the truly wise are the rulers.
What is your critical response to Plato's philosophical assumptions?
Choose one of Plato's ideas and expand on it by interjecting your own critical response to his idea on knowledge or his idea on faith - provide examples to support your response.
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ReplyDeleteI have no interjections about what Plato's philosophies were because, though with some degree of flaw, they had the right idea. The idea of the world being good the majority of the time is accurate. Yeah we have wars, Ebola, and serial killers, but, we also have wonderful people trying to stop the chaos amidst hard times.
ReplyDeleteThe point that hits me the most is about how teachers cannot put the knowledge in students heads, but they have to learn it for themselves. This philosophy needs to be carried out today, mostly targeting the public school system. As the daughter of two teachers, I saw what they had to go through when it came to standardized testing. For those who do not know, standardized testing is used to get grants from the government to fund public schools. That means when a school is in an extreme amount of debt, the teachers have even more pressure on them to make the below par children of that school pass. Then, when the students that do not want to learn do not pass, the teachers are to blame for it.
The moral is that you can not make kids that do not want to be in school pass, they need to want to learn the information and not just have it shoved at them. I am not saying either that teachers are not to blame for the students scores, because I have had a fair share of teachers who did not want to help me, but I truly believe you need to want to learn the information in order to achieve full intelligence.
This brings about another point regarding a student's willingness to learn. I truly believe that every student has the capability to be considered 'intelligent'. Often times, people are wrongly classified into groups of 'smart people' and 'dumb people'. How ridiculous is it that we, a great mass of students who have all been given a functioning brain can limit its capacity before it's been fully explored? I believe that this false theory is the main reason why students refuse education. So many times, students are intimidated by those who have exercised their brain to a far extent; those who strive to excel in their education, and immediately put up a wall, saying "They're one of the smart kids, so my mind could not possibly compare to theirs!" This wall instantly impedes their potential to become an excellent student, as well as a knowledgable person.
DeleteSo what if we were to remind these people that their brain is just as functional as those considered 'smart'? Would it in any way affect their willingness to learn and to excel as a student? If they are required to come to school everyday, what good is it to waste the time grumbling? We are being given the opportunity to expand our knowledge and, with a bit of extra effort, any student has the potential to be proficient. Perhaps this method could have more far-reaching effects than simply accepting that a student does not want to learn.
I both agree and disagree with this to a certain extent. I believe many times a student's grades are based on their willingness to learn. It is a student's responsibility to learn materials since the student will be going on with his or her lied after that class, but I do believe that it extends beyond the student to the teacher for knowledge to be attained. If a teacher realizes every kid struggling, they must realize there must be someway they can teach their students better. It is a teacher's job to make sure kids walk out educated. For a teacher to go on being lazy about teaching or in a way no student is learning makes the failure fall on the teacher instead of the student.
DeleteEXACTLY!! Public schools teach you to pass a test in order to achieve funding. In their minds, they don't care whether you are smart or not. You passed the test and got them money and their students achieved proficiency and they can keep their jobs! You have the information shoved into you, and as long you pass, you are good. But all school has the rebels that don't want to learn, and prevent them from making AYP. But because teachers can't make a student learn, they shouldn't be judged for the children's score.
DeleteI would agree with Plato on a lot of points that he made in this writing. I agree that yes we must be willing to learn. Not even the best teacher can teach you anything if you yourself are not willing to put in the effort. Like said in class many times teachers are not here to give us answers they are here to make us think and learn on our own. I also agree that to have a truly good and fair society you need to have a good leader. Socrates said if the leaders went into the cave and saw reality from the prisoners stand point they would know there pain. A leader should not be a leader because he has money or because she is popular. They should be leaders because they are fair and they are truly wise enough from experience and hardship to lead. A country led by unwise unfair men would be a bad place to live. Those leaders would probably be dismantled from their position one way or another. Another point he made that I strongly agree on is what is reality compared to life from the cave. In the cave you see shadows and you can "create" your world in your mind but if u get out and see the truth of the world you must say to yourself "is this how I planned it to be?" If no you must ask yourself another question "was it better down there?" Both are valid questions that we must answer in our own life. Like the saying ignorance is bliss. Would we rather know the troubles of this world or would we rather stay in our own personal caves where we see fragments and we create our own paradise?
ReplyDeleteYour shadow point is one that I was thinking heavily on as well. The prisoners were at awe every thine they saw a shadow of something. I think their minds interpreted many different things that could have formed those shadows. That was all the prisoners had basically in the cage. They really could not turn around and talk to people walking by, they also could not hear them because of the echo against the cave walls. They had each other to talk about but I do not think there was much they could talk about since they wee there since they were little. When the one prison was released and he got to leave the cave. His senses were hurting so bad because he didn't really have them in the cave. He tried to go back to his friends and tell them basically how bad it really was out there but like I said they could not understand what he was saying because of the echo and didn't know it was there friend because they could not then around and see. In this case I'm sure the prisoner would have loved to stay in his cave. I mean do we not all have bad days were we do not want to leave our room. I believe that our room is our cave.
DeleteI believe this could be used when answering if the grass is greener on the other side. The prisoner spent so much time watching shadows go by. He could not have looked at them without wondering what the real world was like. He probably dreamt of elsewhere many times. Once he got to elsewhere, he realized the true value of the moments he spent in the cave. I think this really shows the true value of a moment and how we should not take things for granted.
DeleteI strongly agree with you. The student must be willing to learn and to be taught. Many of us learn from our experiences and many learn from another's experience. In some ways our actions and events can be our teachers in which we learn right and wrong. Leaders should come from those who have experienced events ranging from joy to sorrow. I feel as if a true leader is understanding of how it feels to be on the floor and not just know the feeling of floating on air. Leadership should be shown on heart and dedication, not on wealth and popularity.
DeletePeople will follow anyone who seems to know what they are doing. If someone confidently says that there is a meeting after lunch, everyone will gather together for it. Everyone is looking up to someone for leadership and direction, and they will follow the person who provides it for them. Usually a leader is someone in a position of power; not just anyone will do. These leaders are often appointed for groups of people based on the assumption that they will do what is best for the people they must lead. Yet how can the people determine how good is good enough?
ReplyDeleteA leader may make a seemly good decision, but that decision may in fact be wrong. In the Middle Ages, the Pope asked the Christians of the world to reclaim Jerusalem from the Muslims. Both the Muslims and Christians claimed Jerusalem as their own "holy land." The Muslims controlled Jerusalem, and the Pope decided that it should be under Christian control. The Christians who fought in the so called "holy war" to reclaim their city degenerated into an immoral group of savages. They attacked innocents who were only guilty of not being Christian. They raided communities along the way, stealing crops and valuables from people who could not dare to fight them. The Pope tried to make a just decision, but the injustice that came from it far outweighed any good it did.
Leaders may also seem to be helping the people, but will then reveal themselves as madmen. When Germany first began conquering countries, the people were happy to be conquered. Their children were starving, the economy was in tatters, and survival was tough. Hitler's war machine rightened their lives. Few people knew of what would come next. When Hitler began the genocide of the Jewish people, everyone realized they had made a mistake in welcoming him. The refugees poured into the surrounding countries, but many more lost their lives to Hitler's fire. The total destruction of the Nazi regime after World War II set Germany back on the right track to a proper government under the guidance of other countries.
When a leader is blinded by their own vices, they will make illogical decisions. Their poor judgement will have exponential effects on the people they control, the people who trust in their judgement. Plato expresses that a good society should be governed by leaders that are wise and just. A truly wise leader would put the needs of the people above his own, and serve them with his life. Leaders may try to live up to this ideal, but will inevitably fall short. I believe that until our society is governed by an enlightened individual, it will continue to cycle through good times and bad.
I think that the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party is a perfect example of how people are so quick to hand over power to any individual who is willing lead them. During the time of the Nazi takeover, people were experiencing great suffering, and were willing to do almost anything to get away from the pain of their daily lives. So naturally, they looked for anyone who claimed they could be a leader. This of course leads to the rise of a power mad individual who hides behind a false facade, proclaiming his willingness and determination to end the people's suffering. And so, was this leader ever truly enlightened? Perhaps this 'enlightened' leader does not exist; perhaps this ideal standard is too much to live up to. Or perhaps it is the people who fail to acknowledge a qualified leader, and the people who fall for the deceiving persona which is presented to them by an aspiring leader. In this case, who is really to blame?
DeleteAshley, I also believe that leaders need to show the qualities that would be the best for the leading position. However, there are always certain qualities of a person that someone else is bound to dislike. As much as we may disagree with one leader, the better leader is not always completely to our liking, either. Everyone has flaws, but we do need to have leaders that are as close to perfect as possible.
DeleteEven with this, everyone has various ideas on what is considered perfect to them. We need someone to look up to and learn from, but nobody is going to be a leader that is loved by everyone. We were all made differently and we all have diverse thoughts.
I put forth a similar argument in my post, Grace. Each of us has our own views about what is good based off of our own experiences. We also all have a different view about what we like and dislike in a leader because of our experiences. A person who has gone through wars will want a leader who will give our veterans certain benefits, whereas a union worker will want a leader who will give benefits to that said union. Each one of us has a standpoint on political opinions, therefore we will all have a different opinion about what makes a good leader. I agree with you when you say a leader should be a close to perfect as possible. A good leader should not have to sway off the line of what is right and wrong.
DeleteMary, in times of desperation many people will agree to anything as long as they think it will make their life improve. I believe it is the people's fault to elect a leader that does not fit certain standards. Just because said leader is saying what the people want to hear is not what they are ultimately going to get. A person who is power hunger is really not a leader. They are only trying to get to a position for their own gain, not for the people they are supposed to be representing.
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ReplyDelete"The world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and the real world can only be apprehended intellectually."
ReplyDeleteThis statement brings to mind an entirely new perspective of the world we have known. It would seem, to some, that the world in its entirety can be experienced vividly through the senses alone; that our perspective of the world can be defined by the way our eyes interpret the reflection of the sun on the calm sea, or the delicate tickle of a blanket of grass against our skin, or even the trickling sound of water splashing from a fountain. But consider for a moment the nonexistence of the mind. Is it likely that we would be capable of experiencing the world solely through our senses? Imagine now that our senses suddenly cease to exist. What would we have left? Would we, too, cease to experience the world? Or would it suddenly become necessary to rely on the knowledge that exists in our mind? Is it not easier to entertain this possibility? Does this not prove the importance of a well nurtured mind brimming with intellect? Thus, it is our intellect that allows us the experience of life here on earth, far more than our senses.
I believe that in order to truly experience the world, one needs to use both their intellect and their senses. Using just one and not the other would be absurd. We were given a mind and a body for a reason. Our senses provide us with a way to interact and learn. Our mind is the collection of our thoughts, the structure for our knowledge. If we went through life without senses, having only our mind and an empty shell of a body, how would we learn? We would not be able to intake anything at all. We would not know sights, sounds, corporeal feelings, or even ideas. There would be no way for these things to be transferred to us. We would only exist as ourselves. We wouldn't be aware of anything but our mind. The balance of life is that we exist independently from anyone else, and that we exist as part of something much bigger than ourselves. The mind needs outside ideas to grow and survive. Without being able to participate in or communicate with the world around us, our minds would break. What use is mere existence without true life?
DeleteI do not think I made my point very clearly. I was not at all suggesting that senses are not essential to living lives here in earth- they clearly are. I agree with you that it is an absurdity to believe that we could live productive lives without them. I only meant to entertain the possibility of losing one's senses at a random point during their life. Would one be able to rely on the mind that they had nurtured up to this point? Or would they cease to exist as well? However, the outcome would be different if one was to lose their mind, at which point there would be no use for the senses at all. I intended it as a figurative thought. I completely agree with your, analysis, however.
DeleteI some what disagree Mary. I might sound like a geek but look at the movie daredevil, with the loss of one sense, his sight, he refined his other sense like hearing to learn how to fight. With it being a movie it is exaggerated of course, but the thoughts stay the same. I know of someone who is not completely blind but her sight is not very good and that led to her having slightly enhanced hearing. So I would say that in some cases a loss of sense could be good. You could but could be bad but over all I think that life can go on, differently but still very manageable, due to an accident or something that cause such loss.
DeleteI think Plato's assumption about how teachers cannot transfer their knowledge from themselves to a student is incorrect, but then I do agree with what he says that teachers only show the students they way they know, then the students comprehend it for themselves. I read an article this week from science daily that has everything to do with Plato's assumption on this topic. The article was about birds going to school. There was a bird from Australia who learned how to make his own tools out of a block of wood. He then used his tool to get berries and nuts from outside his cage to into his cage. This was a major thing for scientist to see. This is where Plato comes into play. The scientist then had the bird teach the other birds how to make the tool and use it just by watching him, they were then able to make the tools. That makes me disagree with the first part of Plato's assumption because the teacher, which was the first bird to make a tool, transferred his knowledge to the others birds just by watching him do it. Then Plato states how the students then comprehend it for themselves. The "student" birds then did that by using their tool in a different way. I feel this is why teachers need to be open for different ways of doing things. This is because each student can interpret things a different way. I also believe that if students tried as hard as they could, they could achieve 100% on any test. I think self doubt and saying, "I have no idea what I am doing." Also impacts us students by not wanting to understand what we are supposed to be learning. I think Plato's point is that if students and teachers both strive to do their best, they will succeed.
ReplyDeleteNo one learns in entirely the same manner. Some students don't study at all for tests and others have to study every night for a week. Some students will learn better by listening; others will have to write things down. Everyone has a different mind, and this leads to the different learning styles exhibited by the students. The style of teaching for one class may be different than another, and students will develop a preference for how they like to be taught. Any student can do well in a class that is taught in their preferred manner. Not very many students can adapt to do well in a class that is not taught the way they learn best from. Obviously, no teacher can change the way they teach to please every student. However, they can include different styles of teaching in the class to reestablish a point in a different way. Both students and teachers should work together to ensure that the student receives the best education from every class they take.
DeleteI fully agree with Maddie. No one could ever possibly learn and comprehend something exactly the same as another person, it is just not possible. They might have similar ways of seeing things, but they can never see what the other person is seeing as they see it. One of my favorite expressions is "your red is different than my red." This expression is telling of how no one sees colors the same way, but since you were taught that the color that you are seeing is suppose to be red then you think that that color is red. My red for example could be the equivalent to someone else's blue. No one can ever see the color as someone else sees it because they are not them. That is why people who are colorblind or color deficient are so different because the colors begin to blur and they cannot figure our which color is which. Therefore, no one can see the way that someone else sees, and no one can learn exactly the way that someone else learns because we are all different.
DeleteI agree with the idea that we do not all learn in the same way, but people are forced to figure it out on their own. I think it is also a confidence thing when it comes to learning and being your own person. We are obviously not all good at the same things, for example, some people are great at art and some people are athletic. It matters about what our passion is, because I truly believe that when you are passionate about something it makes you want to learn more about it. The moral is that we are all unique in the way we learn, think, and act. We are all snowflakes, no two the same.
DeleteThere is so much about our world that we do not understand. So many people are educated in different subjects. Plato stated in the Allegory of the Cave that our world as we know it is only a poor copy of what it actually is and that we need to learn more in order to understand everything. I believe that the people who know different things view the world in a completely opposite way from those who know other things. If people put their minds together, the world would seem so much different. Nobody will fully understand everything, no matter how hard they try, but together, we can understand more.
ReplyDeletePlato stated that education can not be simply placed into a students mind by a teacher, but that the students needed to have the desire to learn. My opinion on this is that there is no such thing as a teacher or student in a sense that everyone has more to learn. Yes, there has to be a teacher or guide to help someone get started on a learning journey, but I believe that students also have the potential to teach those superior to them, especially in a different subject.
My parents have taught me so much in my life. From the start, they let me know what was good and what was bad. They taught me how to treat others and what to do in any difficult situation. They have taught me more than I will ever learn from text books. Even though they taught me many things, I also teach them. I always help my mom with technology and how to work her phone. I taught my dad about how teenage girls act sometimes, which probably was not too much fun for him! I am always able to help my parents with my brothers. If they are doing something out of the ordinary, I can usually help them to better understand what is wrong.
There is still so much to apprehend about the real world, but we do have a chance. People need to learn from others and their experiences, and sometimes even experience things for themselves. If we do want to help each other learn, then we can help themselves from there on to get it in our heads. This world could be some much more interesting, like walking out of a dark cave, but we just have to want it.
As you said that if you took two people's thoughts on the world and compared them, they would be totally different. They might have the same concept, but they have a truly different meaning that has different details. I think this is the same when people look at abstract art pieces. Many people see many different things. Only a select few see the true meaning to the painting that to artist tried to portray. I also think that the world it's self is an abstract piece that people have to look into the true meaning of it. We are all around 16 years old, do we fully understand the true meaning of earth? I know I don't that's for sure. Some days feel like they go on forever but then you talk about the past and it's like its a few days ago not 5 years ago. How does that work? For me it's a hard question to answer.
DeleteI like your comparison to art, Madison, it brought forth some other ides for me. Art is one of my passions. This summer I took a trip to the Modern Art Museum in Pittsburgh. My family did not even want to go inside, but I ended up spending three hours in there. I loved how even the simplest things could be looked at in a different way and left you wondering why the artist did what they did. Modern art is a good example of every individual's unique outlook on the world. One exhibit there was a chair. It was a simple four-legged wooden chair sitting on a table. It may not look like much to us but who know what the artist saw in it? That is the true beauty of it.
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ReplyDeletePlato lived nearly 2,400 years ago. Is it possible that the world could have deteriorated into being ultimately bad instead of ultimately good? Our food eventfully spoils and rots, so what makes the quality of humans different? I am by no means a pessimist, but I am not an optimist. I consider myself a realist. It has become more and more difficult to find people bettering society.
ReplyDeleteI often ask myself what could have caused this catastrophic downward spiral it seems we are riding farther down everyday. The more I look, the more I see the negative effect of the advancement of technology. Technology is by no means a bad thing. It can be one of the most positive tools we have, but when the wrong people get their hands on it, it seems to cause a humongous mess. I'm not against technology, in fact I am using technology constantly. Just this morning I woke up and scrolled down my Facebook newsfeed on my iPhone. An article that showed up caught my eye. Without clicking on the article, I could see it was about a fourteen year old girl from Warren who stabbed her mother not once, but twelve times. I went to the full article to discover what could possibly cause such a young girl to inflict such a malicious crime on the woman who gave her life. This girl nearly killed her mother for reprimanding and punishing her. The fourteen year old was in trouble for sending pornographic pictures to her boyfriend, who then posted them on social media. One article I've read lately that I'm still very disgusted over was one that turned a positive event into such an atrocious prank. The ALS ice bucket challenge is an activity meant to be fun to raise awareness for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, and also to raise money to help find a cure. In Ohio, a fourteen year old, autistic boy was the victim of a heinous crime. Teens from the area convinced him they were his friends and wanted to do the challenge with him, but instead of dumping ice water on him, they poured down a revolting mixture of feces, spit, and urine. They then had the audacity to post the video online. Plato lived in a time where people could not hide behind a computer, phone, or tablet to bully people. The revolution of technology has drastically changed the world.
There are many kind-hearted people building wells in less fortunate countries to give children fresh water, but blood is thicker than water, and the amount of blood spilling on our planet is obscene. If we take a look at ISIS, or ISIL, we see them performing many murders for the sake of killing. Two Americans have been decapitated for no reason other than their nationality. As a kid hearing about World War II, I let myself believe a genocide like that would never happen again. I convinced myself the world must have learned from the atrocious cruelties the Jewish people were forced to endure, but here we are in 2014 living through the genocide of Catholics in the Middle East. Here I am approximately 7,108 miles away from the concentration of the brutality worrying about possible attacks or takeovers that could happen here soon. I am not a person who is afraid of many things, in fact I'm hardly ever scared, but for some reason all these threats and events are inciting such fear in me that I have nightmares.
I am fully aware the world has always had problems with drugs, infidelity, alcoholics, underage drinking, and killings, but it seems to have become an epidemic. In an area as small as Elk County it is especially evident. It has become a rather difficult task to look at our youth and not be able to identify the majority of them as underage drinkers or on drugs. Looking around, we see children as young as middle schoolers getting impregnated, not only by rape, but by their own promiscuity. Middle schoolers are on hard drugs such as heroin. It seems kids have gotten the false impression the way to be cool is to do these mind altering substances that will eventually destroy their lives.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I may be deeming the world as ultimately bad, I do have hope and faith for us to turn ourselves around. Recently on my trip to New York City for my aunt's wedding, I made many friends in her husband's family. One was a male a few years older than me. He was telling me about a new trend many students at New York University are participating in. This includes doing things that do not cause destruction to other people or your body. This includes not drinking alcohol or doing drugs. Instead, they promote eating healthy foods and doing activities like yoga. I do believe there is good in the world. My biggest hope is that it will prevail someday soon.
This is perfect! I feel as if it is no longer okay to be "old-fashioned." So many people make fun of the people that want to wait to drink and have sexual interactions with those of the opposite sex. It is hard for people because technology is making people think that it is normal to be bad. Our generation is so worried about being different and unaccepted that we cannot even think for ourselves or do what we know is right.
DeleteHowever, I do know that there are amazing people out in the world that want us to do well. For example, my friends that I have met in the past few years have been so supportive of everything that I believe in. It is nice to see that there are good things going on. Technology seems to pin-point the bad news that is happening and leave out the amazing people that are fighting for what is right. I do believe that there are lovely people in the world that are being corrupted by technology, but yes, they do have a chance to pull it together and turn it around!
People put a lot of emphasis on changing as the world does, but I don't believe we need to. Just because it is considered popular to drink and have sex at a young age doesn't mean you have to. You have to think about the way it impacts you in the future. These kids who are doing all these immoral things are messing up their lives. Props to those students at New York University who are realizing that their body is a palace and should be treated as such as well as trying to make themselves healthy for their future. I think that would be awesome club to start at ECC as well as helping them prevail their message!
DeleteI agree that the world can be awful, but I feel like it is mostly our fault as the human race. How many times do we fall for what the media is portraying to us about the horrors the world? Young kids also see television shows that promote things like underage drinking, drug usage, and sex and we expect them to stay away from it when those shows and celebrities make it look so glamorous.
DeleteOn the other hand though I see the men and women who go over seas to help people in need, i see doctors who are saving young children's lives. I have hope in humanity, and I truly believe that we are the people who make or break this world. I think that our fate as humanity is completely up to us.
Even though Plato lived thousands of years ago, he does have a point. In millions of years, much of the behavior of the human being is still the same. We still love, fight, kill, terrorize, and enslave. We are impulsive, unpredictable, and wild. When looking back at the bible, we see that there was plenty of sin thousands of years ago. There is still is today; I just believe that Plato was an optimist. I do believe that the world is what you make of it though. It depends on the person’s thoughts and perceptions of it. There are those people who come to or live here America and believe that anything is possible. Those are the people have a desire to learn and thrive, and want to make the most of where they are. Then, there are the other people. They don’t want to learn, or make the most of where they are. “Being” is their only goal. What is “being”? It may be falling in love. It may be partying. It may mean straying from traditional beliefs, and doing what you want, as immoral and unethical as it may be. But you can’t believe that the world is just the world. You have to find it for yourself. Learn about it. Plato is right when he says we have to apprehend the world for ourselves. Nobody can make you learn. You have to want to. When choosing someone to lead our country, we want someone who wanted to see the world, and had a hunger for knowledge, life, and success. Do you ever wonder why America chose Barack Obama as president? Think about it. He wanted to apprehend the world for himself. He was a boy with unlikely odds who worked hard and made it into Harvard. Today, we see Harvard as an Ivy League school, the epitome of wisdom and intellect. So why did we choose him? We though he was wise, just as Plato said that people should choose the wise to lead in order to have a successful society. But Obama strived, and tried to absorb intellectually and lead America. Today, we argue that he probably wasn’t a good choice, as people believe he isn’t aggressive in foreign policy or terrorism. I myself am not a big fan of him, (or his polices on abortion or same sex marriage) but people thought he was wise and good speaker. But really he was not truly wise, and that is why America is in the state that it is in. We are only successful to a degree. Plato’s foundations of philosophy still exist today and people still act on them. As Dr. Pam says, she “Cannot just open our minds and dump the information into them. We have to want it.” And so it is true. People have to want intelligence, and learn the world for themselves. These are the people that make the world good, and give Plato the idea that the world was mostly good.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Olivia's first statement, but I do agree with most of what she has said. I think that the world has changed completely, in some perspectives, of what it use to be when Plato was around. People do act as Olivia said, but not all people do that. Some people work hard for what they are trying to achieve in stead of having their biggest goals to be just simply "being." I think that our government, however, has not changed since the time of Plato, but that does not mean that the people who are running our government do not want to change it or think that what they are doing is completely right. Such as the abortion subject. I personally think that we should not be able to have abortions, but everyone is convinced that it is thee only way to go, such as if they were in the cave and looking at reality as shadows.
DeleteI have no quarrel with the allegations, to a certain extent, made in the Allegory of the Cave. The world's justice system is not exactly "black and white," as some might say. Who exactly is to say that something is good for you, when another is not? Or if something is wrong and another is not? For example, what if someone were forced or afraid to do something that a "bad guy" made them do. Like if someone were a witness to a crime but knew that if they told the police about the crime, they would surely be killed. How is that fair to say that they should be charged for withholding evidence? The justice system would be acting as if they knew everything, like Socrates and Plato mention.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we as a people are not quite yet in full understanding of everything that there ever was, but there are some things that we do know about. There are also some people in the world, like Socrates, who admit that they are not knowledgable about everything, which, in turn makes them wise as Socrates was. To say that the whole world is looking at reality like shadows on a wall is a false accusation, for Socrates was not looking at reality in that way. Which means that there are people out there who are seeing reality for what it really is.
Life is just a distortion off of one’s own imagination and emotions. The world is seen through the eye of the beholder. The beholder has the power to control how their world is being seen. Each individual has a different view on life which is based on personal experiences and opinions. No one sees the world exactly alike, but they can obtain similarities. I think of Plato’s quote “The world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and the real world can only be apprehended intellectually. “, as question because who truly knows what reality is? Is reality based on emotions or intellect? There are many different types of people in the world, pessimistic, optimistic, realist, surrealist, and many others. Each of these individuals choose the way the world is being shown to them, whether they realize it or not. Some try to see the best in the world causing them to be unaware of the evil that surrounds them. On the other hand, some find more difficulties in seeing the good in world.
ReplyDeleteThink about the beauty in an object, it is a sense that is seen by an individual, but perceived differently throughout everyone. However, the process of seeing the beauty in the object is based on one’s intellect and opinion. It is not common that everyone shares the same opinion. I think of life as an abstract work of art. All see the masterpiece, but all perceive it in a different manner. This is how the world is shown. The world is an abstract work of art consisting of personalities, emotions, sites, sounds, and behaviors. Everyone can see these, but only in their own strange distortion. I know it is hard when it seems as most subjects in today’s world are seen as immoral or dealing with different immoralities. Despite the immortalities being displayed, there is still good people in world. Sometimes it is just hard to find them, but one has to search using intellect instead of sense. Overall I think life is essential with involving both sense and intellect.
Sydney, I think your analysis of life as being like abstract art is perfectly accurate. I, for one, have a deep fondness for abstract art, and I believe that is mainly because of its multifaceted significance. To the artist, the work may be a visual representation of a tragic childhood memory, but to a viewer, it may stir up laughter because it reminds them of the way the one they love always sticks out his or her tongue when doing sudoku in the Sunday paper. Yet another onlooker may be enraged because they do not understand it. That is exactly how life is viewed by different people. It scares some, inspires others, and may even confuse, often leaving people in a mixed state of emotions all at once.
DeleteI agree with you on this because like you said who is to say what reality is. I know for a fact that my sense of this world is a lot different than a highclass citizen or a teenage icon. I think that people not only base reality on emotions but wealth as well. My family not being very wealthy have to go without something's others have. I am more then okay with that because it shows us a purer view on reality. With money you could buy your way around life but with out it you have to work which is what I think this world needs, more people who will work and face reality rather than those who would run away from it.
DeleteI agree with the vast majority of Plato's philosophical notions, though not in their entirety. The idea that teachers are solely responsible for merely directing their pupils particularly irks me. It is not the thought that educators should mainly guide their students that bothers me, but the almost blind faith we must invest in our instructors in order to learn.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to elaborate: at the dawn of my educational endeavor, I viewed my teachers as wizened, god-like figures. There was nothing they could say or do that was incorrect, and their word was law. As I began my middle school career, I began to realize that educators' insights were sometimes flawed. The amount of distrust I began to feel for my "more intelligent" superiors was insurmountable. I felt as if I had been lied to by someone dear to me.
As I entered high school, my wariness of teachers' intellectual faults grew. I became acutely aware of just how much information they were spewing out was simply their opinion. I learned to never take a lesson as fact unless I could convince myself that it was, indeed, "written in stone." I am in no way attempting to downplay the value of instructors' guidance, I could not appreciate it more. I believe it is necessary on many occasions in order for the total comprehension of certain materials.
That being said, I do agree with Plato that a student must be willing to learn to effectively retain information. Although, as some previously commented, not all pupils who wholly apply themselves are capable of apprehension at the same level and pace because of the human mind's diversity in learning styles and an equal variety in teaching methods.
The fact is that there will always be educators of merit and those of the uncaring or arrogant mindset, and whether students like it or not, there are legal measures to ensure they spend adequate time with sometimes detestable instructors.
As pupils, it is our job to never take anything a teacher says for its face value. We must inquire about everything being taught to discover its possibly hidden truths, and discover these truths for ourselves. We should be careful not to be swayed by a teacher's opinion, and allow ourselves to form our own thoughts. To disagree with an elder, despite their potentially negative reaction, is to develop an individual intelligence. In this way, we will all become enlightened without the corrupt opinions of some of our betters.
I enjoy Plato's theory about the distortions of our world. We all look at our world from very different perspectives. We walk into our school everyday and think nothing of it and see it with a type of familiarity. Someone who was coming into our school for the first time may look at it completely differently than we do. People look at things in a skewed way and do not take things as how they truly are. Many of us are so busy everyday that we do not look at things and truly appreciate how fantastic they really are. I believe that this begins as children because we live in a society where creativity and uniqueness are not pushed. Many parents want their children to act and do things exactly like other children, they do not get to see the real beauty of the world. Maybe this is why depression is becoming such an issue among teenagers and adults, they are not able to recognize the beauty in the darkest times.
ReplyDeleteOur perspective on the world is not one that always consists of the truth. Our perspective on the world is solely based on what we know and have experienced. We look at the world completely different from children living in third world countries where all they have known is poverty. I look at the world differently from my family and friends who have had different experiences that have shaped their view of the world.
I often find myself thinking about how the world is viewed by other people. I have to remind myself daily that there are literally billions of individuals who each see the world differently than I do and differently than one another does. That blows my mind.
DeleteI like to people watch and speculate about how they experience the world. Does that man walking down the street have a dog? Maybe he really likes lacrosse. Is he happy with his life? What are his biggest regrets? What is his occupation? Does he believe the world is mainly good?
I love that fact that no two experiences on earth are the same. No one in the past, present, or future had/has/will have the same life as me. Think about it. That is an infinite number or moments, all viewed in unique ways. When I consider this, I am in awe. Endless lifetimes have passed and no two of them were remotely close to being identical. Wow.
I agree with you, Abbey, that originality is often pushed to the back and conformity is encouraged. Even from a young age, we are taught that we should fit in and that we should want to fit in. Why? Just think about how changed our world would be if every person felt that they were free to be themselves. I truly believe that it would make the universe immensely better.
I agree with you Abbey. Many of us walk though the same routines and do not even think about what we are doing or why we are doing the actions. We go day to day with minimal changes that we notice or that effect us in some manor. These actions cause us to miss out on the wonderful presence others can have on us. I personally find myself thinking constantly about the others around me and their thoughts. Even though I do not know the thoughts, I just try to picture how they may see the world. The world is shown through the eye of the beholder, and no one sees the world the same, nor experiences the same world. In all actuality, is the world our own illusion in which we are living?
DeleteI can't help but think of the traditional modes of teaching about 3-4 decades ago. Memorization was a popular method for students to learn. Teachers often required students to memorize text in order to pass a quiz or exam based on "one right answer" given by a textbook publisher. Do you call this teaching? Not in my book! Students were often given one history book and taught the biases that were illustrated in the text by a publisher. There was no opportunity for multiple perspectives and sometimes a student might be reprimanded for disagreeing with the textbook or the teacher. Plato's "idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves" actually dates back 2000 years ago and represents a more modern approach to teacher/student relationships in the learning process. I am a firm believer that a student who wants to learn will be eager to complete his/her reading and writing assignments. He/she will go beyond the expectations by doing further research and investigation into the topic of discussion. A student who takes control of his/her own learning process is sure to be far more successful than the one who waits to be told by the teacher, every move to take. In my classroom, I admire those who can disagree with my point of view as long as they can support their opinion. My role as your teacher, as I see it, is to help you discern what you read and explore, but to give you the freedom to critically analyze text. Bringing multiple viewpoints to a discussion is vital for the growth of the entire class. Each of your voices do count in my class.
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