Allegory of the Cave Review

Review & Reflection Questions for Today

1. What is a shadow? What are its defining characteristics? Is a shadow a good metaphor for reality? Why?
2. What is Plato’s view of art? Do you agree or disagree with him?
3. What is Plato’s view of reality, and how can you apply this to your own lived experience of the world? Of media?
Of higher education?
4. Are you an idealist or a materialist? Do you think Plato was right that there is a reality beyond the physical
world, or do you think the physical world is all there is?

Part 1

Plato (b. 428 BEC) on Art & Reality

Plato saw art as mimesis = mere imitation, or representation, and he banished some forms of art from the ideal state he
called The Republic because:

 Art deals with superficial images, not truth.

 It does not advance true knowledge.
 Art imitates reality; we should study reality itself.

But that is just the first step…

The Theory of the Forms

Plato claimed the physical world of the senses was not ultimate reality either, and that there was another, more real
reality, a non-physical realm of what he called Ideal Forms.

Outside of time and space (in the mind of a creator perhaps) there exists all the original, pure, unchanging idea
“blueprints” of everything in the physical world.

What we experience via our senses are flawed, fleeting versions of these eternal, ideal forms.

Video Review #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RWOpQXTltA

Part 2

Plato on Knowledge & Reality

“Life” is like…

… being eternally imprisoned in a fake world of illusion and deception.

… being trapped in a world where you are absolutely certain that the shadows of things are the things themselves.

…and you prefer it that way.

Video Review #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM

Decoding the Cave

The Cave is an allegory: a story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life.
What is your interpretation of this allegory?

1. Who are the prisoners?

2. What do the shadows represent?
3. What are the chains that keep us prisoner?
4. Who is the escaped prisoner?
5. Why is it so difficult for us to leave our Caves?

Interpretations, Old & New

Idealism: The physical, material world of our senses is flawed and fleeting. There is a “higher” reality only the mind can
perceive.

Modern Media: Government, corporations, advertising and mass media seduce us with their agenda of illusions.

Higher Education: Is a course like GNED 101 a way out of the Cave… or just another set of chains?

Higher Education from a Professor’s Point of View

The role of education, especially in the liberal arts and sciences, is not for you to memorize information, like names, dates
and quotes. The role of education is to get you to see things differently. Genuine education is about changing the way
we look at life. It is not the same as simply training someone in how to do a job.

Do you agree? Does GNED 101 do this? What about your program courses?

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