Jerzy Twarowski: Rhetorical analysis; Plato’s Allegory Of The Cave
Plato’s allegory of the cave is an attempt to depict the idea that position of the man in the universe that he exists in is fatal. In a dialog Socrates is trying to convince Glaucon to his point of view of the physical and mythical world. Generally speaking the thought is that all we see, the world we exist in is just an illusion, just a shade of what is really true and our mission is to find this truth . Plato believed that to achieve full awareness of reality man has to completely free himself from earthbound matters and joys. This antic writing has inspired many generations of philosophers and is still considered as a precious source of knowledge. However, in his work Plato …show more content…
It may seem like a noble idea, but it really isn’t. Putting it in other words, it is always nice to be able to get away with frustration or anger simply by escaping to the “higher state of mind” but what about other emotions that are directly correlated with materiality and are part of us, our physical existence, like love and joy. Give it some time and they cease to matter. Emotions will start to be something that just impairs our capabilities of contemplating the truth. By completely separating ourselves from “the cave” we are losing our roots, base on which we are standing. Being able to Being enlightened means that you know that you have a choice of how you want to perceive the world depending on situation. As Wallace has said in his speech “The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're gonna try to see it. This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.” It means that we should learn how to live in and out of the cave, how to adjust to completely different environments and switch between them to suit your own …show more content…
Plato did not say anything about position of man in the universe, but we know that everything we see is always subjective. As Wallace has correctly observed: “Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor. And so on. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real.” We can only try to escape from our little worlds but in a long run it will never be possible to see the real truth. Our efforts can only lead us to something close to truth but not truth itself. The real value of seeking truth is to realize how small man is. Socrates words “I know that I know nothing” are a perfect reflection of what I am trying to say. Despite the fact that there is nothing wrong with seeking truth it will be always depressing that we as a human beings will not ever be able to get all of the
Plato’s allegory of the cave is an attempt to depict the idea that position of the man in the universe that he exists in is fatal. In a dialog Socrates is trying to convince Glaucon to his point of view of the physical and mythical world. Generally speaking the thought is that all we see, the world we exist in is just an illusion, just a shade of what is really true and our mission is to find this truth . Plato believed that to achieve full awareness of reality man has to completely free himself from earthbound matters and joys. This antic writing has inspired many generations of philosophers and is still considered as a precious source of knowledge. However, in his work Plato …show more content…
It may seem like a noble idea, but it really isn’t. Putting it in other words, it is always nice to be able to get away with frustration or anger simply by escaping to the “higher state of mind” but what about other emotions that are directly correlated with materiality and are part of us, our physical existence, like love and joy. Give it some time and they cease to matter. Emotions will start to be something that just impairs our capabilities of contemplating the truth. By completely separating ourselves from “the cave” we are losing our roots, base on which we are standing. Being able to Being enlightened means that you know that you have a choice of how you want to perceive the world depending on situation. As Wallace has said in his speech “The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're gonna try to see it. This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.” It means that we should learn how to live in and out of the cave, how to adjust to completely different environments and switch between them to suit your own …show more content…
Plato did not say anything about position of man in the universe, but we know that everything we see is always subjective. As Wallace has correctly observed: “Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor. And so on. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real.” We can only try to escape from our little worlds but in a long run it will never be possible to see the real truth. Our efforts can only lead us to something close to truth but not truth itself. The real value of seeking truth is to realize how small man is. Socrates words “I know that I know nothing” are a perfect reflection of what I am trying to say. Despite the fact that there is nothing wrong with seeking truth it will be always depressing that we as a human beings will not ever be able to get all of the