I have to write something about Plato's cavern

MillerCross

and how it relates to my professional expectations

i have no fucking idea of how to do this. ._.

TheMightyAnonym

1. You could describe how it has nothing to do with your professional life. Doesn't matter if this is true or not, just argue in that direction.
2. Attack the idea itself as rubbish.
3. Develop an interest in philosophy and do it the expected way. (Boring.)
4. State that a different idea is far more relevant, and explain why.
5. Describe a way in which you can take advantage of the idea to aid your professional life. Again, this can be rubbish, as long as you accurately relate to the idea.
   
6. Tell your teacher that they are a fool, knowing only the shadow of what it means to be a halfway decent teacher. (Not recommended.)
   

Malkavian

Write about preconceptions of college from back when you  were in high school?

MillerCross

Right now, the problem is that I don't think I quite understand the concept.

From what I understand, the allegory refers to men being ignorant and away from knowledge until they start freeing themselves from ignorance and thinking. And only through thought they reach enlightenment. And it's their duty to then help people who were in a similar plight to them

Am I right or wrong?

Malkavian

I think Myrm would explain this better, but let's see if I can take a crack at it.

Basically, the people who live in Plato's cave don't really understand what the world really is, because their only knowledge comes from the shadows that sometimes are seen in the cave. Only an enlightened man willing to brave out into the open can see reality for what it really is and when he explains it to the unenlightened they either don't believe them or can't understand what they're talking about.

MillerCross

OK, so basically...getting out of high school would be like getting out of the cave or something?

TheMightyAnonym

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave This is what you are talking about, correct?

The idea is that, because we can only interact through the world with our human senses such as sight and touch, we are effectively only seeing part of the world. Humanity is limited to seeing distorted representations of things - instead of seeing a REAL tree, we really only see the surface of it, with the addition of colors and such which are all in our heads. When you look at a tree, do you see what is on the opposite side? Of course not, unless you have x-ray vision.

Said concept also applies to not-so-solid things, notably knowledge but also to something like a career.

"From what I understand, the allegory refers to men being ignorant
and away from knowledge until they start freeing themselves from
ignorance and thinking. And only through thought they reach
enlightenment. And it's their duty to then help people who were in a
similar plight to them"

Sort of. That's something of a literal interpretation, although "freeing others" is part of it, yes. Not the IMPORTANT part of the concept though. In fact, that is really only to describe how a freed prisoner may be inclined to act (in your case this may be teaching people how to work you trade).

The idea of the whole thing is that just as the prisoners in the cave can only see the world as shadows cast by a fire, we are blind to our world. You can apply this to your professional life perhaps by asserting that you do not know all the details pertaining to where you will work, what work you will do, who you will work for, and indeed, even how to take on a particular trade.

MillerCross

Hurm, how does one free himself from the cavern? I mean, in the literal sense. I know Plato's idea is that the only way to be free from our measly superficial perception is via reason and ideas...right?

but in the story, how did the hypothetical prisoner get free?

nohaynicklibre

I think one of the guys managing the fire drags him away. I had to read the whole book for Philosophy's class last year. It was easier than I though

captainbrass

The allegory ties in with Plato's Theory of Forms, which is roughly that somewhere, existing in some kind of perfect world, there are perfect forms of all things existing - like perfect beauty and perfect justice. Above all is the Form of Goodness. Like the prisoners in the cave, we cannot know these perfect forms through our limited senses, but we can come to understand them through philosophy.

Plato's ideas were a big influence on Christianity later - the pefect world of perfect beings presided over by a perfectly incarnation of goodness is rather like the Christian idea of heaven. 

MillerCross

So...erm...I'd say that this relates to my profession because, as a filmmaker, it's my duty to teach people about philosophy?

Bastion

It seems like filmmaker would be pretty easy to discuss in these terms. There are a few different ways to approach it, but the first one that comes to mind is this.

The original allegory is all about the confusion between the image and the real. You could argue that as a filmmaker, you intend to evoke that same confusion for people's edification or enjoyment, but in this case your audience's ignorance is temporary and voluntary. 

So think of it like this: the audience is the guy in the cave, the movie theater (or whichever format) is the cave and the movie is the shadow on the wall. That should be a good starting point.

MillerCross

I already did it.

But thanks. It's appreciated.

Bastion

I already did it.

Oh.

MillerCross

Dan, I'm not an Republic Serial villain average college student. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke essay if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it five hours ago.

Schitzo

Suddenly, I want to play Snatcher.

InsanityAddict

Throw in some Baudrillard next time.

Also, Plato hates poetry because it's a copy of a copy, yet still thinks myths are qualified to teach moral lessons and uses allegories to convey his ideas. Half-baked deconstructionism trolololol.