Transcript The Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave
(with subtle hints from the Matrix)
About the author….
Plato was:
 A Greek philosopher and mathematician.
 Student (or follower) of Socrates
 Lived from 424/423 B.C – 348/347 B.C
 Born into a wealthy family.
 Founder of “the Academy” in Athens Greece.
 Helped create a foundation for science and philosophy
today.
 One of his most famous topics: rhetoric (which is
associated more with Aristotle).
Plato’s Philosophy
 Plato, simply stated, believed that universal ideas of
things – like justice, beauty, truth – had an objective
existence of their own.
 Dog – Doggedness
 Cat – Catniss
 Tree - Treeness
But Mister…what does that mean?
 What this means is that these things existed whether
men perceived (understood) them or not. They had
an independent reality which Plato believed men
could come to grasp as knowledge.
Example?
Reality vs. Non-Reality
 Plato believed that our senses are deceptive and what
we experience in our daily lives is not reality but the
shadow of reality. This is one of the main messages in
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Reality vs. Non-Reality continued
 So how does this relate to the stories we’ve been
reading?
 Can anyone think of another movie or book that could
relate to these concepts?
Socrates -> Plato -> Aristotle
 One of the first philosophers was Aristotle (384-322
B.C.). In fact, it’s safe to say that it was Aristotle who
made this concept of reality more widely known.
Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander the Great.
Aristotle had also been the pupil of Plato (c. 427-347
B.C) who was, in turn, the student of Socrates.
Plato vs. Aristotle
 For 2000 years, philosophers had to choose between
Aristotle’s beliefs and what Plato believed. It is safe to
say that Aristotle was Plato’s first critic.
Empiricism
 Is the belief that all knowledge is derived from sense
experience.
 What does this mean? – If we pass by the pig farm and
we end up naturally wrinkling our noses in disgust,
subsequently, it must smell bad.
 The opposite of this thinking is rationalism. – Based
off of reason.
The Allegory of the Cave
Allegory of the cave
 Chains
 People are born into chains. (Very similar to other
philosophers)
 Someone escapes and “sees” reality.
 When that person returns, are they the same?
 Plato also related this to his politics as well.
How is the Matrix like the Allegory
of the Cave?
 In the matrix, a world which is not at all what it seems,
 People refuse to accept the truth, the truth being that
they are in a controlled world where nothing is real.
 Plato argues that life is ironic because in our quest to
find "truth" all we see is shadows... Shadows being us.
How is the Matrix like the Allegory
of the Cave?
 The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up
puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The
prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real
objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see
and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that
they do not see.
How is the Matrix like the Allegory of
the Cave?
Lets say the man from the chains, in the cave, would be freed. How would
he acclimate to the area outside of the cave?
If the person would return to the place where they were originally chained
up, after escaping, they would not necessarily remember their old home as it
once was. Also, the people he once knew would find him ridiculous.
How does this relate to utopias?
 Difference between a utopia and a dystopia
 In dystopian fiction, the protagonist is often made to
believe they live in a utopian society, whereas the
protagonist later realizes it is the exact opposite. In a
way, they are “set free.”
 Although Plato’s “Republic” is related to a different
scenario, it’s concepts are easily relatable to the idea of
utopias and dystopias.
Questions?
Quiz
 1. Put the famous philosophers in order of
who came when.
 2. Who was Plato’s first critic?
 3. Describe rationalism.
 4. Name two movies or books that are
similar to the “Allegory of the Cave”.
 5. Why is Plato’s allegory important?
Quiz
 6. Name one element or aspect that you
remember from the Allegory.
 7. What was Plato’s school called?
 8. True or false: Plato hated art
 9. True or false: Aristotle taught Alexander
the Great
 10. True or false: The Allegory relates to
politics really well.