The Allegory Of The Cave Essay - 1660 Words

3. Explain how the Allegory of the Cave represents Plato’s views about the nature of knowledge and the nature of reality. In the Allegory of the Cave there are chained prisoners in cave who can only stare at the cave wall in front of them. At the back there is a long entrance with a staircase the width of the cave and a fire burning in the distance. They see only shadows projected in front of them from a raised platform and hear an echo that they attribute to what they observe. They talk about and name the shadows of objects they see before them. To them the truth are the shadows. Then one day one of the prisoners is released. He is told that what he saw before was an illusion. Once he is outside it takes a while for his eyes to adjust to the sun. First he observed the shadows of thing then their reflection and finally the actual object. Remembering his previous state he goes back to the cave and tries to explain that everything is an illusion but they laugh at him and think he’s crazy. They believe it best not to ascend and they choose to remain as they are. The cave represented opinion. The shadows that are cast on to the wall represented physical objects. The prisoners represented the common people (Welles). In this allegory the cave represents opinion. The chains represented prejudice. The fire represented the sun. The shadows represent physical objects. The staircase represented philosophy. The outside of the cave represented the transcendental world. The moment ofShow MoreRelatedThe Allegory Of The Cave1086 Words   |  5 PagesExplain the allegorical significance(s) of the cave in Plato’s Republic. How is the cave an allegory of Plato’s philosophy? How is the allegory of the cave an allegory for enlightenment or philosophical education? How and why are most human beings like prisoners in a cave? Who are the puppeteers? What does the world outside the cave represent? What does the sun represent? Etc. What is Plato’s T heory of the Forms? What is a Form? How does the allegory of the cave express Plato’s Theory of the Forms? HowRead MoreThe Allegory of the Cave907 Words   |  4 Pagesman follow the law, and how do implications of society affect our behavior. The most interesting topic from the Republic is from Book VII, the allegory of the cave. With the allegory of the cave Plato gives us the power to break the chains that bind us down and leads us to see the light. In the allegory of the cave Plato sets the scene with humans in a cave that have been chained since childhood so they are restricted from moving and looking around the room. These people only see the shadows castedRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave1382 Words   |  6 Pageshis most intricate, yet his most important figure: the Allegory of the Cave. Socrates calls on the interlocutors to imagine a dimly lit cave in which a group of prisoners are chained behind a wall in such a way that they cannot move and are forced to stare at a wall all day. Thanks to a small fire, the prisoners are able to see the shadows of their imprisoners and images their imprisoners projected on the wall. Having always been in the cave, the prisoners believe the shadows are true; similarlyRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave1307 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Allegory of the Cave there are prisoners are chained up together in which they are all facing the back wall. There is a firing behind the prisoners and the onl y thing that they can see are the shadows of the people behind them. The fire casts shadows on the wall so this is the only thing that they see. Their entire lives have been based on these shadows on the wall. These prisoners have been chained up since birth, so what they see on the walls is all they know. In the Allegory of the Cave, theyRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave Essay975 Words   |  4 Pagesof philosophy in Brooklyn College, once said â€Å"The only thing we know for certain is that nothing is certain.† This is the main philosophy behind both Plato’s â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave†, and the renowned sci-fi movie â€Å"The Matrix.† Both works deal with escaping a false reality while unveiling a real one. In Plato’s â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave†, the escaped prisoner synonymous to the character Neo in â€Å"The Matrix†, exhibiting a shared theme behind both plots. Socrates suggest that with effort, all that isRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave905 Words   |  4 PagesIn the allegory of the cave Plato tries to show us two scenarios where the prisoners experience emotional and intellectual revelations throughout their lives. Plato’s theory was that the ones who truly understand knowledge should guide the ignorant people out of their unenlightened states of being and into true knowledge. The cave symbolizes the people who think that knowledge come from what they see and hear in the world. It also indicates people that make assumptions about life based on the substantialRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave Essay2021 Words   |  9 Pagesrecognizable image of Plato’s Republic, the message of the allegory of the cave is present not only in Book VII, but throughout the entire dialogue. Plato-as-Socrates uses the allegory to express his views on philosophy’s role in his city of speech which is later shown more deeply with the five regimes in Book VIII. The cities in the five regimes underg o a degradation as philosophy moves further and further away from the ruler; which also mirrors the cave. Plato reveals his belief that the city and philosophyRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave1619 Words   |  7 PagesIn his allegory of the cave, Plato describes a scenario in which chained-up prisoners in a cave understand the reality of their world by observing the shadows on a cave wall. Unable to turn around, what seems to be reality are but cast shadows of puppets meant to deceive the prisoners. In the allegory, a prisoner is released from his chains and allowed to leave the cave. On his way out, he sees the fire, he sees the puppets, and then he sees the sun. Blinded by the sunlight, he could only stare downRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave Essay718 Words   |  3 PagesThesis Allegory of Cave First what is perception and ignorance? Let us define perception as one’s view of life through rationalization of the external world and ignorance as an assumption without proof and contemplation. In the â€Å"Allegory of The Cave†, Plato uses Socrates to explain different types of people, one who sees the physical realm accepting ideas as they form and one who lives in knowledge realm by questioning those ideas. People of the knowledge realm are obligated to helps those in theRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave870 Words   |  4 Pages I had an experience that each represents the symbol towards the Allegory of the Cave. My childhood was mostly in Jamaica where I lived with my father for two to three years. I can relate to the symbols from the Allegory of the Cave. I was a prisoner in his house because I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. The chains on my hand represents me being a prisoner in the house. After dark every night I would be all by myself scared. I was 15 years old at the time and Jamaica wasn’t a place that

The State of Nature Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury - 1691 Words

In this essay, I will present three reasons as to why the absolute authority of the sovereign in Hobbes’s state of nature and social contract is justified. The three reasons Hobbes uses are: the argument from contract, the argument from authorisation and the argument from weakness of mixed or divided sovereignty. Firstly, I shall explain Hobbes’s understanding of human nature and the natural condition of humanity which causes the emergence of the social contract. I shall then analyse each argument for the absolute authority of the sovereign being justified. I shall then consider possible objections to Hobbes’s argument. I shall then show why Hobbes’s argument is successful and the absolute authority of the sovereign is justified. Hobbes†¦show more content†¦The sovereign is the most powerful being or body in the state. The social contact is the agreement between people that they will not kill each other and live in peace. Hobbes suggests for the social contract to have any meaning and to ensure that it is not broken requires the existence of the sovereign. This is because without the sovereign people’s distrust towards each other will cause them to break the contract. However, with the establishment of the sovereign, people will not break the contract because of the fear of being punished by the sovereign. The punishment will be greater than any benefit that the person would gain from breaking the contract. The sovereign therefore ensures that the contract is not broken (Hobbes 1839-45, 79). The sovereign and the social contract are therefore necessary and sufficient conditions for getting out of the State of Nature and moving to civil society. I shall now examine arguments for and objections to the view that the absolute authority of the sovereign is justified. Firstly, the social contract itself and the agreement for the existence of the sovereign justifies their absolute authority. The people by agreeing to the social contract are consenting to the sovereign existing and having absolute authority. Even though the people are consenting to the establishment of the sovereign out of fear, it remains a genuine consent as they have agreed to this. This is a necessary evil becauseShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Aristotle s The Leviathan Essay1586 Words   |  7 Pagesonce wrote in his novel Politics, â€Å"Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. † (Aristotle 4) Dating back to Ancient Greece, the state of nature has been observed and disputed for centuriesRead MoreThomas Hobbes s Leviathan 1190 Words   |  5 PagesThe source which will be analysed is the frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes most famous work ‘Leviathan’ and ‘Leviathan’ as a whole. The frontispiece is considered as prominent as the arguments put forth by Thomas Hobbes in the ‘Leviathan’ itself. The frontispiece depicts a crowned figure grasping a crosier and a sword. This figure, or ‘Leviathan’, represents the all-powerful, comprehensive state. When looked at closely, the torso and arms of the figure are made up of hundreds of individual people, whoRead MoreThe American Constitution And The Bill Of Rights1463 Words   |  6 PagesAmerican Constitution and the Bill of Rights are both results of the Enlightenment and thoughts of the philosophes, specifically John Locke. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were both English philosophers,influential thinkers of the seventeenth century, both had confidence in a Social Contract and they both distributed books that were generally perused. Thomas Hobbes talked about and built up the social contract hypothesis through his book Leviathan. The social contract hypothesis was later bolstered andRead More Hobbes and Absolute Sovereignty Essay3649 Words   |  15 PagesHobbes and Absolute Sovereignty Introduction A state is sovereign when its magistrate owes allegiance to no superior power, and he or she is supreme within the legal order of the state. It may be assumed that in every human society where there is a system of law there is also to be found, latent beneath the variety of political forms, in a democracy as much as in a absolute monarchy, a simple relationship between subjects rendering habitual obedience, and a sovereign who renders obedienceRead MoreThomas Hobbes And His Influence On Society2121 Words   |  9 PagesOn April 5, 1588, in Malmesbury, England a young Thomas Hobbes was born. He claimed that his mother gave birth to him upon hearing the rumor that the Spanish Armada was set to destroy the nation. She gave birth to twins, Hobbes wrote,—himself and fear. He was named after his father who was an uneducated clergyman prone to quarrel. Biographers have speculated that both shyness and disputatiousness were noteworthy traits of Hobbes throughout his lifetime. After H obbes s father deserted his parish

Superstitious belief free essay sample

Historical backround http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Superstition The word superstition is first used in English in the 15th century, modelled after an earlier French superstition. The earliest known use as an English noun occurs in Friar Daws Reply (ca. 1420), where the foure general synnes are enumerated as Cediciouns, supersticions, ? e glotouns, ? e proude. The French word, together with its Romance cognates (Italian superstizione, Spanish supersticion, Portuguese supersticao, Catalan supersticio) continues Latin superstitio. From its first use in the Classical Latin of Livy and Ovid (1st century BC), the term is used in the pejorative sense it still holds today, of an excessive fear of the gods or unreasonable religious belief, as opposed to religio, the proper, reasonable awe of the gods. While the formation of the Latin word is clear, from the verb super-stare, to stand over, stand upon; survive, its original intended sense is less than clear. We will write a custom essay sample on Superstitious belief or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It can be interpreted as ‘standing over a thing in amazement or awe,[4] but other possibilities have been suggested, e. g. the sense of excess, i. e.  overscrupulousness or over-ceremoniousness in the performing of religious rites, or else the survival of old, irrational religious habits. Cicero derived the term from the term superstitiosi, lit. those who are left over, i. e. survivors, descendants, connecting it with excessive anxiety of parents in hoping that their children would survive them to perform their necessary funerary rites. [7] The Latin verb superstare itself is comparatively young, being perhaps not ante-Augustan, first found in Livy, and the meaning to survive is even younger, found in late or ecclesiastical Latin, for the first time in Ennodius. The use of the noun by Cicero and Horace thus predates the first attestation of the verb. [citation needed] The term superstitio, or superstitio vana vain superstition, was applied in the 1st century to those religious cults in the Roman Empire which were officially outlawed. This concerned the religion of the druids in particular, which was described as a superstitio vana by Tacitus, and Early Christianity, outlawed as a superstitio Iudaica in AD 80 by Domitian. t B. Definition of superstitious belief http://www. thefreedictionary. com/Superstitious+belief http://www. merriam-webster. Superstitious belief, by definition, have no scientific basis. Science requires that ideas are tested in a way that is repeatable and falsifiable. Falsifiable means that there must be a way that the test shows that a stated belief is not true, while most superstitions rely on metaphysical entities or powers that are so vague they can not be dis-proven. A belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition C. Types of Superstitious Beliefs http://www. catalogs. com/info/history/common-superstitions. html http://en. wikipilipinas. org/index. php? title=Philippine_Beliefs_and_Superstitions 1. Pregnancy All windows and doors should be wide close for the laboring mother’s easy delivery. Pregnant women should avoid witnessing her husband, so that when born their babies would not have the habit of winking the eyes abnormally. An expectant mother should not act as sponsor in a baptismal ceremony to avoid difficulty in delivering her baby or to avoid the death of the fetus or of the newly baptized child. Sitting on the threshold of the house by a pregnant woman will result in a difficult delivery. Taking pictures of a pregnant woman will cause an abortion or a difficult delivery. An expectant mother should have her house neither constructed nor remodeled to avoid difficulty in delivering her baby. Do not partake of the food being eaten by an expecting mother. If you do, you will either become sleepy or will feel drowsy or sick. The new mother should avoid itchy or scratchy foods like gabi, and round fruits or root crops such as citrus, ube, tugui, and coconut for three weeks so her inner organs can return to normal. Do not leave the ladle on top or inside of the rice kettle, but set it aside until more rice is needed. This is done so that childbirth will not be difficult. A visitor must not sit or stand on the ladder or at the door, but come inside so that delivery will not be hard. The mother should not eat shellfish. These are slippery and if they are taken from the brook, the baby may be expelled from the womb. An expectant mother should not eat fish from pointed shells lest the baby have too much mucus or drool too much. A pregnant woman is not allowed to cut her hair, she will give birth to a bald baby. Pregnant women should not cry because they will suffer a difficult birth, and the baby will become sensitive and a crybaby. Miscarriages only occur during the odd-numbered months of pregnancy. Taking a bath before delivery will hasten the birth of the baby, as well as of the placenta. An expectant mother should not participate in funeral activities. Doing so would endanger the mother and the baby during delivery. If a pregnant woman wears clothes which were hung overnight, the fetus will be affected. It is believed that when denied the food a pregnant mother likes, her child will salivate profusely and will be prone to vomiting. A pregnant woman should eat all the food on her plate, so that when she delivers, everything will come out, leaving her womb clean. A comb is submerged in coconut milk with sugar to make the mothers breast full of milk. 2. General Health Sleeping after taking a bath during daytime or at night will result in blindness. A menstruating woman should not eat sweets lest blood flow stop and cause illness or death. Let a dog lick your wounds, and the wounds will be healed. Sleeping with wet hair makes one crazy. When one is wounded during high tide, much blood will ooze out. After circumcision, a boy should not step on a mortar or pestle; otherwise, his organ will grow as big as these. When one is sick with smallpox, he must be given all the things he wishes; otherwise he will die. The successive birth of four children of the same sex is believed to endanger the life of the parent of the same sex. Children are advised not to bite banana leaves, as this is believed to cause tooth decay. One should not eat mollusks when he has wounds, otherwise, his wounds will grow big. A sick person is always believed to grow worse when the moon is full. If the patient does not recover before one lunar month has elapsed and the moon once more assumes this phase, the case is considered hopeless. Taking a bath at night will cause anemia or low blood pressure. Taking a bath on New Year’s Day and/or Good Friday will cause one to get sick. If the family is eating and a member arrives, he is not permitted to join the others in the meal, for if this rule is violated and a member of the household becomes ill, the others may become ill too. Menstruating girls should not eat papaya to avoid whitish blood, nor liver or blood, as they will cause a strong flow. Asthma can be cured by putting a cat near the throat and the chest and at the same time reciting a prayer. Sore eyes can be cured by washing the eyes with the first urine early in the morning. A child who plays with fallen unripe coconuts will suffer body swelling. Parents who despise ugly children will bear an ugly child. Parents who despise or laugh at twins will have twins. 3. Wedding Brides shouldn’t try on their wedding dress before the wedding day or the wedding will not push through. Knives and other sharp and pointed objects are said to be a bad choice for wedding gifts for this will lead to a broken marriage. Giving an arinola (chamberpot) as wedding gift is believed to bring good luck to newlyweds. Altar-bound couples are accident-prone and therefore must avoid long drives or traveling before their wedding day for safety. The groom who sits ahead of his bride during the wedding ceremony will be a hen-pecked husband. Rains during the wedding means prosperity and happiness for the newlyweds. A flame extinguished on one of the wedding candles means the one whose candle was extinguished will die ahead of the other. Throwing rice confetti at the newlyweds will bring them prosperity all their life. The groom must arrive before the bride at the church to avoid bad luck. Breaking something during the reception brings good luck to the newlyweds. The bride should step on the groom’s foot while walking towards the altar if she wants him to agree to her every whim. A bride who wears pearls on her wedding will be an unhappy wife experiencing many heartaches and tears. Dropping the wedding ring, the veil, or the arrhae during the ceremony spells unhappiness for the couple. The member of the couple stands first after the ceremony, will die ahead of the other. A bride who cries during the wedding will bring bad luck to the marriage. It is bad omen for the newlywed couple if their parents cry during the wedding. Upon entering their new home, the couple should go up the stairs alongside each other so that neither one will dominate the other. An unwed girl who follows the footprints of a newlywed couple will marry soon. If a woman is widowed during the new moon, she will marry again. A person who habitually sits at the head of the table during meals will never marry.