How Did Plato Grow Too Respond To The Allegory Of The Cave
We Should not Grow Too Fond of the Flickering Shadows
In “The Allegory of the Cave” and “We Should Grow Too Fond of It: Why We Love the Civil War,” respectively, ancient and modern writers Plato and Drew Gilpin Faust articulate the way one perceives and believes reality. They assert that by shifting a fragmented focus of a subject of study to the subject as a whole, one can reach an altered and illuminated understanding of it (Faust 188, Plato 298). However, where Plato expresses, through an enlightening and famous metaphor, the necessity of a clear understanding that enables the thinker to change his skewed view of reality to ultimate reality, Faust underscores the necessity of a clear and realistic vision of war’s true devastating nature through detailed historical references. These differences aside, when pairing and studying both essays together, Plato’s essay offers a cautionary and enlightened vision of ultimate reality that is extended in Faust’s essay. …show more content…
The metaphor depicts prisoners who understand life only through shadows flickering on the wall of their cave. Here he paints a frightening image of “prisoners [who] have been chained from childhood” forced to stare at the cavernous wall ahead of them (296). As they have never left their dark dwelling and are ignorant of the reality that exists outside of it, the prisoners are duped into thinking the “meaningless illusions” they see are real (297). Through metaphor, Plato asserts that one who understands life only through sensual perceptions is shamefully deprived of a complete and holistic accurate
In “The Allegory of the Cave” and “We Should Grow Too Fond of It: Why We Love the Civil War,” respectively, ancient and modern writers Plato and Drew Gilpin Faust articulate the way one perceives and believes reality. They assert that by shifting a fragmented focus of a subject of study to the subject as a whole, one can reach an altered and illuminated understanding of it (Faust 188, Plato 298). However, where Plato expresses, through an enlightening and famous metaphor, the necessity of a clear understanding that enables the thinker to change his skewed view of reality to ultimate reality, Faust underscores the necessity of a clear and realistic vision of war’s true devastating nature through detailed historical references. These differences aside, when pairing and studying both essays together, Plato’s essay offers a cautionary and enlightened vision of ultimate reality that is extended in Faust’s essay. …show more content…
The metaphor depicts prisoners who understand life only through shadows flickering on the wall of their cave. Here he paints a frightening image of “prisoners [who] have been chained from childhood” forced to stare at the cavernous wall ahead of them (296). As they have never left their dark dwelling and are ignorant of the reality that exists outside of it, the prisoners are duped into thinking the “meaningless illusions” they see are real (297). Through metaphor, Plato asserts that one who understands life only through sensual perceptions is shamefully deprived of a complete and holistic accurate