PLATO

Becs this ones for you!

 

Journal 3: Plato The Allegory of a Cave

            The Allegory of the Cave is a story of men who live their lives chained up in a cave, never knowing what the beauties of the world are truly like. Some might say they are prisoners of some kind, but that is beside the point. These men never see things as the really are. They see shadows and distortions of true things on the cave wall. One day one of the men it dragged out of the cave into the outside world to finally see the light of day. At first he exclaims in great pain,  for the sun burns his eyes that are so used to the darkness. After a short time, his eyes become accustomed to the light and the man begins to see things for what they are. Excited, he wants to return to the cave and tell his friends. He returns to the cave to tell his friends of the things he has learned, and the marvelous things he has seen. When he gets there he finds that his friends only laugh at him and say, “You are a fool gone mad, trees are not green, for what is green?” They do not believe what he says.

            Plato’s literary main rhetorical device was the use of an allegory, which is similar to parables in the bible. It tells a story that has a different meaning than the direct story line. In order to relay the story he uses dialogue, which gives the allegory a feeling of a play or production. What does Plato believe to be the perfect government? After reading a few times, it could be said that he thinks division of class is needed. In paragraph 54 he says, “Neither the un-educated nor the over-educated will be good servants of the senate”. Another point that could be taken from this piece is that learning is a wonderful thing, but it takes lots of effort, and some people would rather stay in the dark than take the time to discover for themselves. “The virtue of wisdom has a divine power which may be turned either towards good or towards evil” (Paragraph 49).

            This really just reminds me of parables in the bible, and strongly of religion. It relates to the world around us today. Many people believe in God and religion while others don’t. People who believe in religion believe that they have found the light; they believe that they see the world for the true beauty that it truly is. While people who don’t believe in God either feel as though something is missing in their life, and they strongly believe that there couldn’t possibly be any higher power. In relating to Plato’s Allegory, the people who belong to a religion are like the man who was dragged outside the cave, they want to share their knowledge. People who want nothing to do with religion, but haven’t taken the time to learn about it are like the man’s friends who laughed at him thinking him crazy. There needs to be a balance between all three of these scenarios. There needs to be a balance in all things in general, in government, in religion, in education. Without balance things fall apart.