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Hunter Seales 2
Hunter Seales 2
their own eyes. The men in this scenario form competitions, games and
awards based around the movement of the shadows, their patterns
and assumed motions. It is all they know, but this allegory is shaken to
its core as one hypothetical man is taken to the surface, dragged
forcibly to the burning, seething light of the true world above. This is a
metaphor for the searing pain the soul can endure for reaching up to
seek the truths of humanity and the world. It can be humbling,
painfully so, to realize the nature of man, the world, and ones
surroundings. The chained mans initial reaction to being brought to
the light is one of agony and pain; to desire at first to reject such a
notion and return to what he once knew as truth. But as humans tend
to reject change, so too does this man, but as time passes and he
spends more time exposed to this light, he grows accustomed. The
author states, He becomes comfortable, and he begins to learn
(Duarte 76). Plato calls learning the highest act of man; to seek
knowledge beyond that which we can see, and achieve the same
enlightenment as the gods themselves. Being brought to the fire that
cast the shadows is only the first step for the hypothetical men, for
when they are brought into the light of the sun, they are truly exposed
to reality.
As the allegory goes, the man is brought into the light and
accustoms himself to that which is most familiar at first. The shadows
of objects, then their reflections, then the objects themselves. Plato
and their origins; to understand that which is around and to know ones
place in it. To Plato, this is the highest aspect of man, a turning of the
soul to perfection, almost, for education. It is important to note,
however, is that Plato specifically mentions the capacity of every man
to achieve the same state of enlightenment as even the greatest
philosophers (Plato). It is a matter of being taught how to learn, and to
indulge in the non-physical and imperceptible truths of the world. But
what does it mean to be enlightened, to be educated by that of
philosophy? Socrates answers this question with his discussion with
Glaucon. They discuss things that the men of the world learn, and two
concepts come to mind: Gymnastics and poetry. Through their
musings, they find that these are only the structure of words and the
acts of the body; not the inherent truths of the world surrounding
them. They do not bolster understanding of the gods or their intellect,
nor do they improve the mind or turn the soul to a better place. From
this, we can determine that it is about understanding rather than
knowledge that drives the mind to higher places, and that this is
achieved only through the pondering of the greater world; that beyond
that which our senses can detect. Mathematics, questions of morality
and the soul are only a pair of concepts discussed by Plato and
Glaucon
What is important to know about this entire allegory is that it
does not end when the man steps into the light of the sun and grows
Works Cited
Bloom, Alan. The Republic of Plato. 2nd Ed. New York: Basic Books,
1991. Print.
Byum, S. (2010), The Concept of Philosophical Education. Educational
Theory, 60:
543-559, Doi: 10.1111/j.1741-5446.2010.00376.x
Duarte, Eduardo Manuel. Being and Learning: A Poetic Phenomenology
of Education.
Rotterdam: Sense, 2012. Print.