Skip to main content

Plato's Cave-> Plato's Ladder? -Rachael Gregson



 Ah, the well-known Plato's Cave. I remember reading this in Mashburn's introduction to philosophy class two semesters ago. This second go-round allowed me to notice something I failed to acknowledge then, and that is that Plato not only laid out different ways of thinking, he also laid out different ways of life. To better understand this point, picture someone being asked to define kindness in each of these stages. In the beginning stage, which would be imagination, they may associate kindness with what it seems like rather than what it actually is supposed to be. Something that appears kind may might as well be kind. This all ends at thought, the last stage, which is when someone can define kindness by deciphering between what what is kind and what is actually not kindness through a very logical, analytic process where 'looks' can be not be trusted and ran with. 

Plato's point is that we can never instantly appear at the thought stage. All of the stages are interconnected, and we must educate ourselves through all of them to be considered truly knowledgeable in an area. The way I grasp it is that it is sort of like a ladder. We must step on each rung to make it to the top. The inside of the cave represents the bottom, our starting point, whereas the outside of the cave represents our ending point of knowledge and awareness. The purpose of life according to Plato is to never settle or be satisfied for what's inside the cave, but to slowly migrate out of our comfortability and into something that hurts (but in a good way). 

I commented on posts by Jamie and Ian.

Comments

  1. Caroline TuckerOctober 5, 2020 at 9:06 PM

    The way you presented the cave and how the intention is to continue out of the cave and into the new no matter how much it hurts reminds me of growing pains. Sometimes it takes pain to learn the most important things. Like learning about the love of family. The people who value family most have most likely witnessed or experienced a loss of a family member or a fallout in the family.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jessef LeslieOctober 5, 2020 at 9:38 PM

    I agree but all ladders have an end; Plato's idea of good and knowledge is a process that has no end. It nonetheless is a great comparison! Also, the people inside of the cave are locked in place, they have no way of getting out of the cave in the first place, which prohibits the ideal: going into the light. Going back into the cave also hurts though, and might even be more difficult and painful than leaving it, so is that what Plato is telling us to do as well?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Welcome to Honors! (Please Read This)

     Welcome to Honors! My name is Abbie Hedden and I serve as President of Honors. Jamie Peters is our Vice President, and Caroline Tucker is our Secretary. I look forward to getting to know all of you in class during this upcoming year! There are a few things you need to know about Honors.      There are no quizzes or tests in Honors. Grades are provided based on attendance/class participation, blogs, explication papers, and the research paper. The papers will be addressed at a later date, as they aren't due until later in the semester. However, there is a blog post due every week. Bearing that in mind, here are the requirements! Criteria Blog posts are due Monday at 11:59PM , and comments are due Tuesday at 9:29AM . DO NOT BE LATE ON ASSIGNMENTS. Points WILL be deducted from late assignments! Be sure to have your name in your Blogger profile Blog posts should include at least one to two paragraphs on that week’s reading assignment.  Blog posts shoul...
Post a Comment
Read more

Topsy Turvy Day—Lily Caswell

  I cannot remember how old I was when I watched T he Hunchback of Notre Dame  but I was at least 8 or 9. I didn’t realize until probably a couple of years ago that the song  “Topsy Turvy” and the corresponding event was actually based on a real festival. The Feast of Fools was usually held on January 1 though it could have also been held on the 6 th  or the 13 th  of January. It was portrayed as a parody of Catholic feasts. Church bells were rung improperly, songs were sung out of tune, and the celebrants “wore strange garments and masks, and used puddings, sausages, and old shoes as censers.” (Seaton, p 77) In the song “Topsy Turvy”, it says “It’s the day the devil in us gets released / It’s the day we mock the prig and shock the priest / Everything is Topsy Turvy at the Feast of Fools… And it’s the day we do the things that we deplore ‘ On the other three hundred and sixty-four.”  I commented on Haylee Lynd’s and Jamie’s posts. Sources: https://www.brita...
1 comment
Read more