Some questions about this great work of Plato.
What do you think Plato's view towards the "so-called" common man is?
- Allegory of the Cave is the common man. According to Plato, they represent all people before they are fully educated. The common man sees nothing but the shadows on the wall of the cave. These shadows represent everything that we have ever seen, and since they are the only things we have ever seen, they constitute all that is real to us. Being fully educated involves the ability to see everything, including all that is outside the cave.... No?
What do you think the role of Glaucon is in this piece?
- Seriously, he is just saying "Yes. That is certain. Very true" et cetera? And considering that over the course of this particular discussion he responds affirmatively to Socrates' statements twelve times with no questions asked, it appears that Glaucon took Socrates' suggestion literally. Or?
And lastly, he writes that if an observer should "laught at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den." What differences can you perceive in the laughter?-
- Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: ideas in the mind. Yet, if someone goes into the light of the sun and beholds true reality and then proceeds to tell the other captives of the truth, they laugh at and ridicule the enlightened one, for the only reality they have ever known is a fuzzy shadow on a wall. They could not possibly comprehend another dimension without beholding it themselves, therefore, they label the enlightened man mad.
Also, I fail to understand the meaning of "the intellectual is doomed always to be at odds with popular belief and thinking."
And in his description of the returnee to the cave whose eyes are made dim and weak by the unaccustomed shadows, what popular stereotype of the thinker does Plato despict? And what is your opinion on it?
Just some questions regarding this text.
For me, about staying or not staying in the cave.. My choice is simple; I would stay in the cave. I don't want to know about rape and murder and hate. I want to be naive and think that people are good and love each other. I want to believe that peace on earth is possible. I want to not have to question other people's intentions. Yes, I would get taken advantage of, but I wouldn't know the difference, If something bad enough happened, I'd just suppress the memory.
The text can be viewed here;
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/plato.html