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Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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Dignity is something that each and every human being is born with; a great sense of worth, and respect. It is the quality of being honorable and valuable, being the best possible version of yourself. Everyone is given the equal right to exist in this world with a high nobility, and not one person has more of a right than anyone else. This dignity cannot be taken away; it simply takes one’s desire to live their life to their fullest potential to achieve, and maintain this state. It is the actions taken by an individual that affect a person as a whole, and make a difference. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, The Book of Genesis, and Aristotle’s Nichometrican Ethics, ideas are portrayed in a way that gives us a further understanding of this concept. …show more content…

Plato is a well known Greek philosopher who created the Allegory of the Cave to convey that everyone should seek knowledge and education throughout their lives. He believed every person is capable of this, however, it comes down to whether a person has the desire to learn or not. The action of achieving education in life is the formation of character and every person should have the desire to make a difference in not only themselves, but our society as well. We as human beings are prisoners in this dark, confined cave that Plato identifies. The cave is the world of sight, and we are blind to the outside sometimes. It takes one to have dignity to “escape” the cave and achieve one’s knowledge and education. In this cave, the prisoners see shadows that represent a false vision of truth, yet ignorance covers …show more content…

Dignity plays a constitutive role in Aristotle’s Nichometrian Ethics. His belief was that the main goal in life is to achieve full happiness. If given dignity, one will be in the pursuit of happiness. As a philosopher, he tells humans what our lives consist of. Everyone is unique and has their own traits, but we are all born with dignity. His own conception of dignity consists of having these moral virtues, which is a mentality on how to behave in a correct manner. These virtues are formed in one by an individual's actions. “The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life” (Aristotle). If you are a virtuous person, your happiness is fully achieved, therefore flourishing with dignity. “Virtue lies in our power, and similarly so does vice; because where it is in our power to act, it is also in our power not to act because where it is in our power to do, lies in our power not to act...” (Aristotle). It is all about being a sensible person and God grants dignity to each and every person, giving us the power to pursue or achieve whatever one desires. Therefore, all humans God made should be in the pursuit of happiness, and together forming a state of peace and

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In the “Allegory of the Cave”, Plato breaks the story into four main scenes to demonstrate the path to enlightenment for the unenlightened reader. He uses a story of a man trapped in a cave,

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Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society. The allegory of the cave is an understanding of what the true world is and how many people never see it because of their views of the society they are raised in.

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Plato’s Republic, Book 7, talks about the metaphor referred to as "the allegory of the cave. " This metaphor in philosophy is use to describe the importance and effect education or lack of education has on the human mind. In book VII, education is referred to as a light that brightens the different paths that exist in life. It helps open the human mind to things that it was unaware of. Another point made in book VII, was that by educating yourself you become less ignorant to what is out there in the world.

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1) In the allegory of the cave, Plato’s main goal is to illustrate his view of knowledge. A group of prisoners have been chained in a cave their whole lives and all they have ever been exposed to were shadows on the wall and voices of people walking by. The prisoners in the cave represent humans who only pay attention to the physical aspects of the world (sight and sound). Once one of them escapes and sees the blinding light, all he wants is to retreat back to the cave and return to his prior way of living. This shows that Plato believes enlightenment and education are painful, but the pain is necessary for enlightenment and it is worth it.

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Lastly, in the allegory of the cave Plato eloquently demonstrates the effect of education on the human condition. Plato uses this allegory to create an illustration of how the individual reacts in the four stages on the

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The "Allegory of the Cave" is just that, an allegory, or a symbolic story. In which, I like to associate Plato 's Allegory of the Cave with education. Applying his analysis of conception of reality, it shows how a person start off in ignorance (chained to the dark well) and has to be compelled, quite against their wishes often, to be unchained and start the "steep and rugged ascent" into the light, enlightenment, or education. The very root of the word "education" is from the Latin for "to lead out of" implying a leading out of darkness or ignorance. Moreover, once a person gets into the light, they do not want to go back into the cave (darkness).

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“Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exist in the soul already;” (Plato). Spoken by Socrates in reference to the philosophy of life, this quote depicts the meaning of broadening our horizons in order to gain knowledge and escape the shackles that confine us in the form of deceit. This quote is portrayed in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” as the prisoners detained in the cave are deluded by their perception of reality, and the prisoner that escapes loses that distorted world and becomes enlightened. The cave is a representation of the hidden lies in which the prisoners are provided as the premises of their knowledge and are restrained from the truth to remain ignorant. Ultimately, one of the prisoners discovers that the world in actuality is

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The entire world is shadows on a wall. With each passing day, these shadows become what people know to be reality. As long as one is enthralled in these shadows, one will not be able to understand abstract ideas. “The Allegory of the Cave” imitates the comparison between those who decide to enlighten themselves to those who not only choose to not walk this intellectual path, but those not willing to let others educate them either. Plato displays perfectly how one’s shackles of ignorance can only be unlocked through experiencing, understanding, and believing the world outside of the world of darkness known.

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#2 Plato’s Allegory In Modern Day Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is about the human perspective and enlightenment. In todays society Plato’s allegory is still relevant and is deeply rooted in education. College students are a perfect analogy for the “Allegory of the Cave”. We are told from the very beginning that we need to have an education to be successful in life.

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The Allegory of the Cave is a brilliant writing by Plato that really puts into perspective how we are living as a part of a materialistic and consumer society. The darn thing was written almost 2,500 years ago, and considering the fact that the allegory is still relevant today, Plato’s allegory is surprisingly very close to what contemporary society is like. His arguments are undoubtedly strong since he patches all his arguments well to lower any possibilities of counter arguments, but there is still room for doubt. Also, even with those weaknesses, the prisoners in the allegory are still indisputably similar to the people of today, and the cave doubtlessly like the modern society. In this essay, I will discuss some of Plato’s strength and weaknesses in his arguments as well as how the allegory still applies to the current people and society.

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Do you want to die? If so, the poison is right there in the food you eat. With every spoonful, death is one step closer. Limiting sugar consumption is important for everyone who wants to live a healthy life. I have consumed excess amounts of this substance for an uncertain amount of time, not anymore though.

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The state of most human beings is depicted in this myth of the cave and the tale of a thrilling exit from the cave is the source of true understanding. Plato has portrayed the concept of reality and illusion through the allegory of the cave. One of Socrates' and also of Plato's, chief ideas was that of forms, which explains that the world is made up of reflections of more perfect and ideal forms. In the Cave

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In “The Allegory of the Cave”, Plato’s idea of the human who escaped the cave, but came back to tell about his learnings but the other people in the cave did not want to listen to him since they believed that the cave was the real truth and did not want to be educated about the outside

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Comparing this situation from the story to one’s real life, it can be inferred that in most cases people just see one side of a coin while the reality is perceivable only when one be aware of the two sides. The allegory of the cave also portrays that understanding of the reality is obtainable

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The phrase “ignorance is bliss” has many different ways of being interpreted. The idea that what we do not know cannot hurt us, and that it is better to be in a situation whereby we are ignorant to the truth, rather than a situation where we know a hurtful truth, is one that can be debated at length. One of the best examples of the idea of “ignorance is bliss”, and the impact that the truth can have on people, is the Allegory of the Cave, a concept created by the Greek philosopher Plato in the fourth century BCE. The allegory shows how our perspective can change radically when given new information, and how that new information, when shared with others who are not aware of it, can give them a radically incorrect idea of the truth, when not taken in the proper context. Here, we will first explain the concept of this Allegory of the Cave, before interpreting its meaning and how it related to the greater ideals, values, and convictions that Plato and his philosophical works stood for during and after his lifetime.

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