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The Allegory of the Cave28/08/2007 20:27:00
Plato
- most important and influential philosopher, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle
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Has something to say about every subject matterAuthor of
Republic
- The Allegory of the Cave in book VII
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Purpose-to help study epistemological aspect of dualism
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2 world theory of knowledge
Allegory-
form of extendedmetaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in anarrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlyingmeaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are oftenpersonificationsof abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story withtwo meanings, a literal meaning and asymbolicmeaning.
Scenario:
QuickTimeª and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.
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the people interpret the shadows as reality
Symbolism:
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Cave=physical world we experience w/ senses
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Daylight World (outside of the cave)= intelligible reality, the world of truth, worldof form
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Prisoners= vast majority of people
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Chains=bonds of passion, sophistry which pull away from truth
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Sophistry- A plausible but misleading or fallacious argument.
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Sun=form of good, unenlightened : truth :: escaped prisoner : philosopher
What do we know? What do we believe?
Is it based on reason & argument or passion, puppetry, prejudice
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The period we see shadows on the wall- we have an opinion
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The period we see reality- we have knowledge (must depart from senses=die)
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The Theory of Forms-
Introduced in
Phaedo,
eventually disprovenForm of the Good (SUPER FORM)Forms aka Universals- reference of quality and relationalwordsMathmatical entitiesObject of nature (mere imitation of form)Images, works of art, literature (all is dependent on forms, approachbut never obtain perfection).Non-spatial world actually exists, is not mental.We depend on the forms, the forms depend on the form of good.
Truths:
Justice, beauty, courage all form after abstractions, involve eternal unchanging forms.
Theory of recollection:
mind grasps form by transcending senses (death)to get knowledge we must contemplate formsreincarnate, then you recall the forms as they are taught to youhow long you spend in the realm of forms:
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is determined by how good you are
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determines your mental capacity for recollection upon reincarnation.
2 achievements of life:
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knowledge & virtueif you are bad, the soul hovers over grave and never transcends to contemplate forms.
Based on the lecture of Dr. Sherrill Begreshttp://www.bartleby.net/61/64/S0566400.html http://m-w.com/dictionary/allegory
LessknowledgePhysical World,space/time,known throughsense perceptionMoreknowledgeNon-spatial eternal,intellectual world of thought known byreason
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