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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 2 page explication of Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave' in which the writer defines the meaning of the light, the sun, and their relevance to knowledge & man's perception of his own environment. It is found that Plato's writing represents an interesting look at the ongoing struggle we face to understand and have knowledge of ourselves. No Bibliography.
Page Count:
2 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Allegory.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
only but a glance away yet we cannot stare directly into it. It guides us and casts the images we accept as "reality" upon us.. but if we attempt to
look directly at it.. we cannot see.. It is blinding. Plato discussed knowledge in this same sense; we cannot have it all and star directly into the face of total
knowledge-- it would be overwhelmingly blinding and we would be inclined to just turn back ... look aware.. and stare only at these secondhand reflections we have learned to accept
as our reality. Like the sun, to know everything --to see the brightness of the fire burning -- is not as far away as one might think..
yet to do so would actually result in an un-anticipated counter-intelligence. The overwhelming sensation of understanding all that which we were not meant to understand would literally be too much.
As described in this philosophical dialogue, we would actually not be able to grasp it all-- inherently returning to that which we have always known and could always understand.
Nevertheless, Plato tells Glaucon that there are those who do see "the light." They stare directly into it and acquire all that which they could have ever sought--
or so it might seem. But when they return; of course, they are blinded. They may know all and they may have seen all-- but perhaps this was not for
them to understand if they are to live among ordinary men. For now they cannot intermingle..they can not discuss nor can they even see the reflected secondhand images that everyone
else does. Nor can they make anyone else see or grasp the fire that they saw.. All they can attempt to do is to project their own secondhand image. They
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