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Christian Laskie Plato's Cave Paper
Christian Laskie [christian.laskie@apps.schoolcraft.edu]
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2017 4:06 PM
To:
Jesse Mileo Christian Laskie
Professor Mileo
Philosophy
February 1, 2017
Plato’s Cave and The Truman Show
Have
you ever questioned your reality and if anything is beyond it? This is a question humans often struggle with because it questions whether or not we are actually free and also ponders what is real and what is not. Are we all pawns on a selected path or are we free to unlock all of the world's mysteries? We naturally like to think we are but for all we know our own ignorance could be preventing us from the answers we seek. The famous philosopher Plato hoped to help people reach their own conclusions when he presented the Allegory of the Cave. The Allegory of the Cave was a story designed to show people the possibility that they could be living in their own reality and that they could be blocking out the truths of the world. There are also various movies that show examples of a Plato’s Cave such as the Truman Show but in order to understand the similarities between the two we have to dissect both separately first. Starting with Plato’s cave or The Allegory of the Cave we have to understand the story. The first part of the story deals with prisoners since birth who are chained so they can't move or turn their heads. All they are allowed to see are shadows from a fire behind them and the shadows their captors allow them to see. They also hear the echos of the voices of their captors but beyond that is nothing. This is their reality and they only know what their captors allow them to see. They have absolutely no idea that the shadows are from what is behind them and that the voices aren't from the shadows. The second part of the story deals with what happens when you take one of the prisoners outside. The story says when the prisoner is released he turns and sees the fire and that it hurts his eyes and makes it difficult to see the objects casting the shadows. Plato believed that even if the prisoner was told what he was seeing was what was actually real that the prisoner would think it was fake and go back to what he originally believed is reality. Plato believed that the prisoner did this because it was both difficult and painful for the prisoner to see what was actually real. The story then went if the prisoner was forcibly dragged outside the cave he would be overcome with pain from the light of the sun but slowly over time his eyes would adjust and eventually he would be able to look at what is actually there. …show more content…
The story then goes that the prisoner would think the outside life was far superior to the cave life he was subject to inside and he would take pity on his fellow prisoners and try to free them. But when he goes into the cave again he is blinded like when he was first dragged out. The other prisoners who think that the man was harmed by what was outside would try to kill anyone trying to take them out. Plato’s Cave demonstrates the ignorance of people living their own reality and that they are afraid to go outside of their comfort zone to learn the true reality because it might be painful or difficult or just strange. Plato's Cave also demonstrates that our realities can often not be what the true reality is. Plato was also known for his theory of Forms also known as the theory of Ideas which argues that non-physical forms represent the most accurate reality. The whole purpose of this theory is to give us answers that satisfy us. Both Plato’s Cave and the theory of Forms can be related because both are used to find answers of true reality. A movie that relates to Plato’s Cave perfectly would be The Truman Show because they both deal with someone going from their own reality to what is the actual reality. The Truman Show
Delete
Close Previous Item Next Item Close
Christian Laskie Plato's Cave Paper
Christian Laskie [christian.laskie@apps.schoolcraft.edu]
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2017 4:06 PM
To:
Jesse Mileo Christian Laskie
Professor Mileo
Philosophy
February 1, 2017
Plato’s Cave and The Truman Show
Have
you ever questioned your reality and if anything is beyond it? This is a question humans often struggle with because it questions whether or not we are actually free and also ponders what is real and what is not. Are we all pawns on a selected path or are we free to unlock all of the world's mysteries? We naturally like to think we are but for all we know our own ignorance could be preventing us from the answers we seek. The famous philosopher Plato hoped to help people reach their own conclusions when he presented the Allegory of the Cave. The Allegory of the Cave was a story designed to show people the possibility that they could be living in their own reality and that they could be blocking out the truths of the world. There are also various movies that show examples of a Plato’s Cave such as the Truman Show but in order to understand the similarities between the two we have to dissect both separately first. Starting with Plato’s cave or The Allegory of the Cave we have to understand the story. The first part of the story deals with prisoners since birth who are chained so they can't move or turn their heads. All they are allowed to see are shadows from a fire behind them and the shadows their captors allow them to see. They also hear the echos of the voices of their captors but beyond that is nothing. This is their reality and they only know what their captors allow them to see. They have absolutely no idea that the shadows are from what is behind them and that the voices aren't from the shadows. The second part of the story deals with what happens when you take one of the prisoners outside. The story says when the prisoner is released he turns and sees the fire and that it hurts his eyes and makes it difficult to see the objects casting the shadows. Plato believed that even if the prisoner was told what he was seeing was what was actually real that the prisoner would think it was fake and go back to what he originally believed is reality. Plato believed that the prisoner did this because it was both difficult and painful for the prisoner to see what was actually real. The story then went if the prisoner was forcibly dragged outside the cave he would be overcome with pain from the light of the sun but slowly over time his eyes would adjust and eventually he would be able to look at what is actually there. …show more content…
The story then goes that the prisoner would think the outside life was far superior to the cave life he was subject to inside and he would take pity on his fellow prisoners and try to free them. But when he goes into the cave again he is blinded like when he was first dragged out. The other prisoners who think that the man was harmed by what was outside would try to kill anyone trying to take them out. Plato’s Cave demonstrates the ignorance of people living their own reality and that they are afraid to go outside of their comfort zone to learn the true reality because it might be painful or difficult or just strange. Plato's Cave also demonstrates that our realities can often not be what the true reality is. Plato was also known for his theory of Forms also known as the theory of Ideas which argues that non-physical forms represent the most accurate reality. The whole purpose of this theory is to give us answers that satisfy us. Both Plato’s Cave and the theory of Forms can be related because both are used to find answers of true reality. A movie that relates to Plato’s Cave perfectly would be The Truman Show because they both deal with someone going from their own reality to what is the actual reality. The Truman Show