Prisoners and Puppeteers in the Cave

Ideas y Valores, 2017

Abstract: In this paper I claim that Plato’s Cave is fundamentally a political, not an epistemological image, and that only by treating it as such can we appreciate correctly its relation to the images of the Sun and the Line. On the basis of textual evidence, I question the two main assumptions that support (in my view, mistakenly) the effort to find an epistemological parallel between the Cave and the Line: first, that the prisoners represent humankind in general, and, second, that the cave itself represents the visible world of ordinary experience while the world outside the cave represents the realm of the Forms. Disrupting these assumptions opens up a reading that highlights the cultural and political themes at play in this famous allegory and allows us to make better sense of it. Keywords: Plato, Cave, Politics, Culture Resumen: En este ensayo sostengo que la Caverna de Platón es fundamentalmente una alegoría política, no epistemológica, y que solo tratándola como tal, podremos apreciar correctamente la relación que guarda con las imágenes del Sol y de la Línea. Sobre la base de evidencia textual, pongo en duda las dos hipótesis principales sobres las que se funda (a mi parecer, equivocadamente) el esfuerzo por encontrar un paralelo epistemológico entre la Caverna y la Línea: la primera, que los prisioneros representan a la humanidad en general, y la segunda, que la propia caverna representa el mundo visible de la experiencia corriente, mientras que el mundo fuera de la caverna representa el reino de las Ideas. La suspensión de estos supuestos posibilita una lectura que pone de relieve los temas culturales y políticos que están en juego en esta famosa alegoría y nos permite así entenderla mejor. Palabras Clave: Platón, Caverna, Política, Cultura

An in depth personal opinion on the notorious short philosophical work.

Being and Learning, 2012

Tonight's response is brief (though not necessarily easy). Please come up with THREE questions about the reading: 1. The first question should be based in the text. A question, for example, about a specific word, phrase, or passage. 2. The second question should be more of a discussion question, a question raised about some larger aspect of the reading. 3. The third question should also be based on the reading, but be more personal, and perhaps relate to morality/ethics in some way. You do not need to answer any of your questions or respond to anyone else's questions for this response. Do make sure that you don't repeat anyone else's questions. Allegory questions "And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?" What is the other side? I'm confused about what's literally happening here.

This study is a critical reflection on the illustrative allegory of the cave taught by Plato in Ancient period and the implication it has for our time. This allegory is one of the numerous metaphysical and epistemological doctrines which Plato uses to make a distinction between appearance and reality and teaches how to come to term with reality. This allegory captures the reality of our time copiously and emblematically. The study begins by reiterating the doctrine of the allegory of the cave. It attempts an analysis of what Plato uses it to depict in his time. Thereafter, it inquires by way of analysis into the implications which this allegory have for modern living. It pictures Plato's mind on how the allegory constitutes criticisms of our everyday life. It x-rays the role of education in liberation, and by extension, the role of the educated, who have been liberated from the bondage of ignorance and who have broken the shackles of intellectual and political imprisonment, in liberating others. The study also attempts to exposit the distempers of reality in present day living and the role of the philosopher in liberating mission. It concludes with the position of T.Z. Lavine that Plato's Allegory of the cave is an allegory of despair and hope for contemporary world.

APEIRON, 1988

Plato's similes of the Line and the Cave have occasioned many interpretations. Most of the difficulties are due to Plato's metaphorical language, and it has seemed almost impossible to find an interpretation that is perfectly coherent on philosophical and philological grounds. The traditional interpretation assumes that the Cave and the Line are parallel, both being based on a fourfold division of states of mind (511d7) or levels of enlightenment (514a-517e), and that there is a oneto-one correspondence between the four stages of the Cave and the four sections of the Line. 2 This traditional interpretation presents serious difficulties. The first is that it is hard to find a correspondence between LI and Cl 3-that 1 l am grateful to Professor J. Ackrill for his substantial comments on two earlier versions of this paper. I am also indebted to Gregory Vlastos and Myles Burnyeat for helpful discussions, and to Janet Sisson for her comments.

We inept ones admire too much certain very insignificant things … but blind and ungrateful, we have long since stopped admiring the very great things we used to respect. … let us move forth into the light with the fortunate inspiration of goodness itself, that is God on high (Voss, 2006: 190,210). In this consideration of Plato's allegory of the cave, from Book VII of The Republic, I will argue that it remains as relevant for today's world as it has done ever since it was first written.

Plato's 'Republic', 2020

The Allegory of the Cave is arguably the most famous part of the Republic. Although it is clearly related to the Sun and Divided Line analogies (indeed, Socrates explicitly connects the Cave and the Sun at 7.517bc), Plato marks its special status by opening Book VII with it, emphasizing its importance typographically, so to speak (he will do much the same thing in Book IX with the discussion of the tyrannical soul). Although an allegory is sometimes defined as a symbolic narrative that can be interpreted as having a hidden meaning, Plato is not cagey about the Cave Allegory's meaning: it is about 'the effect of education (παιδεία [paideia]) and the lack of it on our nature' (7.514a). Given how visual the allegory is, many readers will find it helpful to draw themselves a diagram of it. Education, the Allegory's topic, is not what most people think it is, says Plato: it is not 'putting knowledge into souls that lack it' (7.518b). Though education sometimes requires that kind of transmission of knowledge from teacher to student, this is not its essence, which instead is 'turning the whole soul' (7.518d)-turning it around, ultimately toward the Form of the good. Education as turning around is a powerful metaphor, capturing the way in which learning involves gaining new perspectives, seeing everyday things and events from new points of view. Everyone, Plato insists, is capable of education in this sense (7.518c). But not everyone is capable of making it out of the Cave into the intelligible world of the Forms, just as not everyone is capable of winning a Nobel Prize in Physics or an Olympic medal in Figure Skating. Nonetheless,

Creative Education, 2017

The research observes thinking processes of students undergoing training to become teachers. It focused on their interpretations which provide a new approach to the ancient text "The Allegory of the Cave" in Plato's Politeia (The Republic). These processes enable students to reach insights concerning the characteristics of the educator's challenges of the 21 st century. This article is based on a thorough observation of discussions in an online forum (in a Moodle environment), accompanied a lesson entitled "Introduction to philosophy of education on the timeline" that took place during the academic years 2014, 2015, 2016. In this assay we demonstrate how a discussion mediated through an online discourse explores the process of knowledge construction, collaborative learning and constructivist dialog. This is with reference to the tension between the ancient and the modern, the past and the future, tension which its intensity increases in reality changes in accelerated pace.