This document provides an agenda and background information for a class discussion on Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" from The Republic. It includes:
1. A brief biography of Plato and overview of his philosophical works and founding of the Academy.
2. Discussion questions about the allegory, Plato's rhetorical strategies, and themes of perception and reality.
3. An assignment for students to complete a group project drawing and labeling aspects of the cave.
4. An announcement of the upcoming Essay #4 assignment on privilege and perspective, prompting students to read selections from Cicero, Thoreau, Plato and Woolf to prepare.
Discover how teachers have used the series to teach medieval studies, classics, mythology, writing, literature, history, philosophy, and even science! by the editor of the book Teaching with Harry Potter.
These slides are from lectures on Plato's Phaedo at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada. We did not read the entire work, and these slides only talk about what we did read.
These slides went along with a lecture on Plato's Gorgias in PHIL 102, Introduction to Philosophy, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
It is an allegory , a short story that tells you about how our brain understand things ,examine them and how it is fooled.
in this slide the present conditions of political India has been compared to the allegory for better understanding. this slide will help you understand the political tactics. in the same way advertisers make us fool and sell their products.
Discover how teachers have used the series to teach medieval studies, classics, mythology, writing, literature, history, philosophy, and even science! by the editor of the book Teaching with Harry Potter.
These slides are from lectures on Plato's Phaedo at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada. We did not read the entire work, and these slides only talk about what we did read.
These slides went along with a lecture on Plato's Gorgias in PHIL 102, Introduction to Philosophy, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
It is an allegory , a short story that tells you about how our brain understand things ,examine them and how it is fooled.
in this slide the present conditions of political India has been compared to the allegory for better understanding. this slide will help you understand the political tactics. in the same way advertisers make us fool and sell their products.
353Socrates, PlatoThus the soul, since it is immorta.docxgilbertkpeters11344
35
3
Socrates, Plato
Thus the soul, since it is immortal and has been born many times, and has
seen all things both here and in the other world, has learned everything
that is. —Plato, Meno
Love [is] between the mortal and the immortal. . . . [It is] a grand spirit which
brings together the sensible world and the eternal world and merges them
into one great whole. —Diotima in Plato’s Symposium, 202e
I [Socrates] affirm that the good is the beautiful. —Plato’s Lysis, 216d
f you have heard of only one philosopher, it is probably one of the big three:
Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle.These three were the most important philosophers
of ancient Greece and in some respects the most important, period. Plato was the
pupil of Socrates, and Aristotle was the pupil of Plato.This chapter covers Socrates
and Plato; the following chapter, Aristotle.
SOCRATES
In the fifth century B.C.E., the center of Western civilization was Athens, a city-state
and a democracy. This period of time was some three centuries after the first
Olympic Games and the start of alphabetic writing, and approximately one cen-
tury before Alexander the Great demonstrated that it is possible to conquer the
world or what passed for it then. Fifty thousand citizens of Athens governed the
city and the city’s empire. Athenians did not settle disputes by brawling but rather
I
36 Part One • Metaphysics and Epistemology: Existence and Knowledge
by discussion and debate. Power was not achieved through wealth or physical
strength or skill with weapons; it was achieved through words. Rhetoricians, men
and women with sublime skill in debate, created plausible arguments for almost
any assertion and, for a fee, taught others to do it too.
These rhetoricians, the Western world’s first professors, were the Sophists.
They were interested in practical things, and few had patience with metaphysical
speculation. They demonstrated their rhetorical abilities by “proving” the seem-
ingly unprovable—that is, by attacking commonly held views.The net effect was
an examination and a critique of accepted standards of behavior within Athenian
society. In this way, moral philosophy began. We will return to this topic in
Chapter 10.
At the same time in the fifth century B.C.E., there also lived a stonemason with
a muscular build and a keen mind, Socrates [SOK-ruh-teez] (470–399 B.C.E.).
He wrote nothing, but we know quite a bit about him from Plato’s famous dia-
logues, in which Socrates almost always stars. (Plato’s later dialogues reflect
Plato’s own views, even though “Socrates” is doing the speaking in them. But we
are able to extract a reasonably detailed picture of Socrates from the earlier
dialogues.)
Given the spirit of the times, it is not surprising that Socrates shared some of
the philosophical interests and practices of the Sophists. We must imagine him
wandering about the city, engaging citizens in discussion and argument. He was a
brilliant debater, and he was idolized by many youn.
3 53Socrates, PlatoThus the soul, since it is immort.docxgilbertkpeters11344
3 5
3
Socrates, Plato
Thus the soul, since it is immortal and has been born many times, and has
seen all things both here and in the other world, has learned everything
that is. — Plato, Meno
Love [is] between the mortal and the immortal. . . . [It is] a grand spirit which
brings together the sensible world and the eternal world and merges them
into one great whole. — Diotima in Plato’s Symposium, 202e
I [Socrates] affirm that the good is the beautiful. — Plato’s Lysis, 216d
f you have heard of only one philosopher, it is probably one of the big three:
Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle. These three were the most important philosophers
of ancient Greece and in some respects the most important, period. Plato was the
pupil of Socrates, and Aristotle was the pupil of Plato.This chapter covers Socrates
and Plato; the following chapter, Aristotle.
SOCR ATES
In the fifth century B.C.E., the center of Western civilization was Athens, a city-state
and a democracy. This period of time was some three centuries after the first
Olympic Games and the start of alphabetic writing, and approximately one cen-
tury before Alexander the Great demonstrated that it is possible to conquer the
world or what passed for it then. Fifty thousand citizens of Athens governed the
city and the city’s empire. Athenians did not settle disputes by brawling but rather
I
3 6 Part One • Metaphysics and Epistemology: Existence and Knowledge
by discussion and debate. Power was not achieved through wealth or physical
strength or skill with weapons; it was achieved through words. Rhetoricians, men
and women with sublime skill in debate, created plausible arguments for almost
any assertion and, for a fee, taught others to do it too.
These rhetoricians, the Western world’s first professors, were the Sophists.
They were interested in practical things, and few had patience with metaphysical
speculation. They demonstrated their rhetorical abilities by “proving” the seem-
ingly unprovable — that is, by attacking commonly held views. The net effect was
an examination and a critique of accepted standards of behavior within Athenian
society. In this way, moral philosophy began. We will return to this topic in
Chapter 10.
At the same time in the fifth century B.C.E., there also lived a stonemason with
a muscular build and a keen mind, Socrates [SOK-ruh-teez] (470–399 B.C.E.).
He wrote nothing, but we know quite a bit about him from Plato’s famous dia-
logues, in which Socrates almost always stars. (Plato’s later dialogues reflect
Plato’s own views, even though “Socrates” is doing the speaking in them. But we
are able to extract a reasonably detailed picture of Socrates from the earlier
dialogues.)
Given the spirit of the times, it is not surprising that Socrates shared some of
the philosophical interests and practices of the Sophists. We must imagine him
wandering about the city, engaging citizens in discussion and argument. He was a
brilliant debater, and he was idolized by.
PHIL 101 Prof. Hood Lecture 3 Spring 2007, p.1 PHI.docxrandymartin91030
PHIL 101
Prof. Hood
Lecture 3
Spring 2007, p.1
PHIL 101
3. Plato (427-347 C.E.)
3.1 Biographical Information
Plato came from a well to do Athenian family that had important political connections. Socrates
became a major influence in his life. Plato's uncle Charmides knew Socrates well and Plato may
have been introduced to Socrates through him. But more importantly, Plato observed Socrates in
action. It was a risky thing to hang around Socrates because Socrates more often than not
offended those in power or those who wanted to become part of the elite. He stepped on toes and
crushed egos. Lots of the young men of Athens loved going to the agora (downtown
marketplace) and watching Socrates rip apart the arguments of the elders, the businessmen, the
politicians and military brass.
What we know about Socrates comes mainly from Plato's treatment of his in the numerous
dialogues Plato wrote. The dialogues are a bit like plays except they have no stage directions and
they were to be read not performed. Plato attended the trial of Socrates, which is recounted in
Plato's Apology (or "defense"). Not only does Plato put himself in the courtroom while Socrates
is on trial for corrupting the youth, we have evidence from other sources that puts Plato there.
Yet I have always found it curious that Plato is nowhere to be found when Socrates is about to be
executed. In the Phaedo ("fee-dough"), Plato has one of the characters state explicitly that Plato
was absent: "Plato, I believe, was ill." How could you not be there when someone you cared so
deeply about was about to die? Plato was "sick that day"? Yeah, right. Personally, I think he just
couldn't handle it and chickened out. We know that Plato did have political aspirations, but he
quickly gives them up after Socrates' execution.
After Socrates' execution Plato traveled to Sicily, in southern Italy where he studied with the
followers of Pythagoras. As we shall see, this association with the Pythagoreans formed another
important aspect in the development of Plato's philosophy. He also traveled to Egypt. Another
philosopher, Cratylus, who was a follower of Heraclitus (see Lecture 1), was another influence in
Plato's development. We will see as well that Plato adopts a Heraclitean view of the world being
in a state of constant change or flux. The most genuinely biographical bit writing is found in
Plato's Letters. (Whether Plato is the author of the Letters is uncertain. Whoever wrote them did
know a lot about Plato's life, however.) In the Seventh Letter there is a description of Plato's
attempt to shape the views of the tyrant Dion, the ruler of the Greek city of Syracuse. It was a
disaster, to put it mildly!
3.2 The dialogues. [You can read the dialogues and other works of Plato here.]
Nearly everything Plato wrote has Socrates as the main character: Socrates discussing Justice
(and much more) (Republic), Socrates at a dinner party (Symposium) drinki.
How to Split Bills in the Odoo 17 POS ModuleCeline George
Bills have a main role in point of sale procedure. It will help to track sales, handling payments and giving receipts to customers. Bill splitting also has an important role in POS. For example, If some friends come together for dinner and if they want to divide the bill then it is possible by POS bill splitting. This slide will show how to split bills in odoo 17 POS.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology:
Ethnobotany in herbal drug evaluation,
Impact of Ethnobotany in traditional medicine,
New development in herbals,
Bio-prospecting tools for drug discovery,
Role of Ethnopharmacology in drug evaluation,
Reverse Pharmacology.
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
4. • Plato was born around the
year 428 BCE in Athens.
Plato's birth name was
Aristocles, and he gained
the nickname Platon,
meaning broad, because of
his broad build. His family
had a history in politics, and
Plato was destined to a life
in keeping with this history.
A Brief Biography
5. When Plato met Socrates, he had met his
definitive teacher. As Socrates’s disciple,
Plato adopted his philosophy and style of
debate, and directed his studies toward
the question of virtue and the formation
of a noble character.
6. Plato was in military service from 409
BC to 404 BC. When the
Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC
he joined the Athenian oligarchy of
the Thirty Tyrants, one of whose
leaders was his uncle Charmides. The
violence of this group quickly
prompted Plato to leave it. In 403 BC,
when democracy was restored in
Athens, he had hopes of pursuing his
original goal of a political career.
Socrates’s execution in 399 BC had a
profound effect on Plato, and was
perhaps the final event that would
convince him to leave Athenian
politics forever.
7. After 399 BC Plato began to write extensively. The order in which he wrote his
major texts is also uncertain. However, most scholars agree to divide Plato's
major work into three distinct groups. The first of these is known as the
Socratic Dialogues because of how close he stays to Socrates’s
teachings.
The period from 387 to 361 BC is often called Plato's "middle" or
transitional period. The major difference between these texts and his earlier
works is that he begins to establish his own voice in philosophy. Plato's most
influential work, The Republic, is also a part of his middle dialogues.
The Republic covers almost every aspect of Plato's thought. Book VII of The
Republic is “The Allegory of the Cave.”
8. Plato founded a school of learning which he called the Academy.
Plato's school is often described at the first European university. Its
curriculum offered subjects including astronomy, biology,
mathematics, political theory, and philosophy. Plato hoped the
Academy would provide a place where thinkers could work toward
better government in the Grecian cities. He would preside over the
Academy until his death.
9. It was around 365 BC
when Plato's famous
pupil Aristotle began to
study at the Academy. In
347 Plato died, leaving
the Academy to his
sister's son Speusippus.
The Academy remained a
model for institutions of
higher learning until it
was closed, in 529 CE, by
the Emperor Justinian.
11. Together, draw a picture of Plato’s Cave.
Label the significant aspects of the cave.
Make it fit for overhead projection
See pages 445-46
THE TASK
12. 1. Describe how the people in the cave are
situated in Plato's parable. Why can't they
move their legs or necks to take a look around?
What is the only thing they are capable of
seeing? What is their only source of light?
2. What do these prisoners trapped in the cave
believe is real?
3. How does the prisoner react when he first sees
sunlight? Why?
The Allegory
13. 4. What are the stages of the liberated
prisoner's experience outside the
cave?
5. What is the response of the
prisoners to the news of the man
who has escaped about the world
outside? Why?
6. Compare the perspective of the
freed prisoner with the cave
prisoners.
14. IN GROUPS, DISCUSS
“THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE”
FROM
PLATO’S REPUBLIC
CONSIDER HIS RHETORICAL
STRATEGIES, THE ALLEGORY ITSELF,
AND THE “QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL
READING” (PAGES 453-54)
16. Allegory: a story in which the characters and
situations actually represent people and characters in
another context.
Dialogue: Asking questions that require simple
answers. Slowly, the questioning proceeds to elucidate
the answers to complex issues.
Clarity
Simplicity
Directness
Rhetorical Strategies
18. QUESTIONS
What is the
relationship between
Socrates and
Glaucon? Are they
equal in intellectual
authority? Are the
concerned with the
same issues?
How does the allegory
of the prisoners in the
cave watching
shadows on a wall
relate to us today?
What shadows do we
see, and how do they
distort our sense of
what is real?
19. Are we prisoners in
the same sense that
Plato’s characters
are?
If Plato is right that
the material world is
an illusion, how
would too great a
reliance on
materialism affect
ethical decisions?
QUESTIONS
20. What ethical
questions are
raised by
Plato’s
Allegory?
In paragraph 49, Plato
states that the virtue of
wisdom “contains a
divine element.” What is
a divine element? What
does this statement seem
to mean? Do you agree
with Plato?
QUESTIONS
21. What distinction
does Plato make
between the public
and the private?
Would you make
the same
distinctions (see
paras. 53-55)?
What does Plato’s
allegory of the cave
tell us about how we
recognize the world?
QUESTIONS
22. According to the
allegory, how do cave
prisoners get free?
What does this suggest
about intellectual
freedom?
What does the allegory
suggests about the
process of
enlightenment or
education?
QUESTIONS
23. According to The Allegory of the
Cave, what is the main task of the
philosopher?
Who are the “guardians” or
philosopher-kings?
Why should philosopher-kings
rule? Do you agree?
24. ESSAY #4: CLASS 19
You will respond to one of several prompts provided.
There are prompts addressing Cicero, Thoreau, Plato and
Woolf.
Your essay will be between 500 and 750 words. The
number of pages will depend on your handwriting!
You will have two hours to write.
Please bring a clean, large Blue Book:
(Approx. 8x10). You can buy them at the bookstore.
You may write with either a number 2 pencil (dark lead)
or blue or black pen.
25. Ways to Proceed
Come to class for the discussions
Participate in, listen to, and think about our class discussions
Read the two essays
Reread the two essays—make notes about your thoughts
Review the “Suggestions for Writing” sections at the end of each essay.
Buy your Blue Book
Bring an appropriate writing utensil
26. HOMEWORK
• Read A World of Ideas:
• Virginia Woolf "Shakespeare’s
Sister" (761-776) )
• Post #30 Questions (TBD) for
Critical Reading: (page 776)
• Post #31 QHQ Woolf or Plato