Preview

Plato's Republic and Modern Politics

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3104 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Plato's Republic and Modern Politics
Whence comes life, the most sacred and holy? Whence and how enters life into dust? And, whence does the dust become aware of life and life of dust? Mind, Body and Spirit! Each houses, nourishes and complements the other in such ways that perhaps only silence may be an adequate response as to why it is so. Such may be the path of the wise, but not those who are still journeying towards wisdom. Hence, as each desire to discover what it and others are, it sets out on a journey knowing not to where it may go and what it may find. Mind, Body and Spirit, each desire to know with the knowledge that it knows not. And, this simply adds to the mystery! Such is the beginning, the middle and the end.
But let us be more human in our expression!!!
One of the most important allegories ever to be gifted to humankind is Allegory of the Cave. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is one of the most potent and pregnant of allegories that describe human condition in both its fallen and risen states. That is, the human existence in its most profound and profane states. As there is a wonderful Islamic saying that parallels this: “the human being can ascend to such heights that even the angels will become jealous of him or will descend to such realms that even the devil flees from him.” Equally important, one can also find within the allegory social, political, philosophical, moral, ethical, and spiritual elements. So flexible and workable is this allegory that the more one puts in, the more one can take out. And, perhaps Nietzsche was right in his suggestion that there are no facts but only interpretations. After all, how could there be anything but interpretation given the existence of variety of temperaments and personalities and life experiences?
There is much wisdom contained in this statement, “There are no facts, but only interpretations,” and one could even argue that perhaps Nietzsche himself was unaware of the depth and the power of his own insight. We all have different

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, the nature of good is represented through the deprivation of light the prisoners of the cave experience. In this imaginary representation, the individuals are not so much prisoners of the actual cave as they are of their own ignorance. The prisoners are surrounded by darkness and faint light, depicting shadows into reality. If light is the representation of truth, then the darkness engulfing the cave represents the lies the prisoners ignorantly believe. Because the darkness is all that they have known, they…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that Plato’s Allegory can be turned into an allegory of the presidential process. The candidates try to hold back any information that may damage their character in the eyes of the voters. For example, this year’s upcoming presidential election our presidential candidates have been caught withholding information from the public. I think that the presidential candidates are like the puppeteers from Plato’s Allegory and the American people are the prisoners that are shackled. The only truth that the prisoners know is what the puppeteer’s project before them. They are also similar to the puppeteers due to their control and divulgence of misinformation. The voters only know what is in their display, they have been exposed to it their…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave” (Plato) is a metaphor that shows how we believe reality. What it is showing is that the things we perceive are imperfect reflections of forms that only represent reality. In the Allegory, Plato uses a cave where prisoners are chained down and forced to look at the wall. Plato shows that the prisoners do not actually know what reality is. The readers understand that the puppeteers behind the prisoners are using objects to create shadows to real things and people, but the prisoners are unable to turn their heads, so they don’t know anything…

    • 1830 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Allegory of Cave has become one of the most unforgettable, talked-about moments in the history of philosophy. In one way or another, almost every major philosophical viewpoint since Plato has responded to, attacked, or reimagined this foundational image of human existence. Plato helps guide the reader to the journey from ignorance to wisdom, showing his belief that education is the surest way to an ideal…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Allegory of the Cave", is a metaphor of our world. The cave symbolizes our ignorance. If we do not experience something personally, the situation must not exist. The way we pinpoint situations are based on our three levels of thinking. The first level would be our imagination. We could see a shadow of an apple and if we would not what an apple was, we would picture it as a ball or something familiar. The next level would be our senses. Once we could touch, feel and see but yet still have no experience we would still be easy to manipulate and mold. Our intellect is the third level. Our intellect is our ability to think, to face ideas and build our own opinions and views of the world around us. Our level is dependent on our upbringing, religion, culture, and environment. Along with experience, this is how we depict certain situations, however in no way does this mean our depictions are true.…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Eternal Return of the Overhuman: The Weightiest Knowledge and the Abyss of Light. Journal of Nietzsche Studies 30 (1):1-21. – Keith Ansell-Pearson.…

    • 2567 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave is a metaphor that can be seen to describe many aspects and situations in life that one had no control or choice over. The reason Plato uses many metaphors in his allegory is to think or ‘philosophize’ about the world around us because in fact our understanding of the world is very limited. This is due to the fact that we live in a world of shadows and not reality to whom very little is actually known about by everyone. The metaphors are seen to actually represent a society with all its people, truths, hidden meanings, problems, solutions etc… The meanings transferred in the allegory of the cave apply to philosophy because it shows the philosophers position in society. It gives the philosopher the opportunity to philosophize/think about what exists/reality and what does not exist in our surrounding environment. To society, the allegory of the cave contemplates many issues related to man in his society. Such issues include human’s ability to be ignorant or knowledgeable, free or imprisoned, stubborn, lazy, active, etc… by choosing either to or not to search for answers to many of the issues that arise continuously. Moreover, The Allegory of the Cave is about ignorance and learning because the men in the cave are ignorant or unaware of the outside world that exists except for the shadows that they saw passing by on the walls. The man who is freed engages in the process of learning from the moment he is released from the cave and is forced to adapt to the new conditions and situations that now surround him. In addition, the chains are used to symbolize the limited amount of information that a person has about reality. For whatever reason, this limited amount of information can be considered to be a type of ignorance. Last but not least, as humans in this world, many of us are really ignorant…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    According to Plato, “Using the written word to give a distorted image of the nature of the gods and heroes, completely fails to capture the likeness of the original,” (Book II, p46). An author or poet cannot simply say whatever he or she likes, rather there needs to be truth in what they are writing. In order to understand why Plato takes this stand, it’s important to have an idea of the time in history he was in. At this time many of the strong leaders were apt on building strong intelligent soldiers who would be able to conquer other nations and empires. To fill the minds of the future generation with fantastical stories of hero’s and distraught God’s, in Plato’s mind, only served to weaken the minds of the people. Stories that filled the minds of people with fear, sadness, or excessive pleasure indulged a part of the mind that did not need to be indulged…“If the young men of our community hear this kind of thing and take it seriously, rather than regarding it as despicable and absurd, they’re hardly going to regard such behavior as despicable in human beings like themselves and feel remorse when they also find themselves saying or doing these or similar things,” (Book III, p54).…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave” was the philosophical story of people who lived in this cave, and never left. They were bound to one spot, and could never move. The only light was this fire in the middle of the cave, that was on the other side of a wall that separated the fire from the cave dwellers. There were also other people who carried objects above their heads on the fire side of the wall. This made shadows on the actual cave walls, which were the only things that the bound people knew to be true. One day one of the dwellers got to be freed from his position and was about to make discoveries of a new world.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Allegory of the Cave” is a storyline in the form of an allegory. An allegorical writing is a type of writing that has formal and symbolic meanings. In an allegorical storyline setting, characters, and actions can be used as symbols that interpreted a significant meaning. The “Allegory of the Cave” has allegorical meaning because there are multiple symbolic associations. The dark cave can be seen as a prison made by ourselves because of the ignorance behind our minds. Also, Plato states, “the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images”. Plato is insisting that the shadows symbolically suggest a world full of illusions. Finally, Plato himself writes, “First he will see the shadows best, next the…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Democracy vs Plato

    • 2048 Words
    • 9 Pages

    We are in a time when people are questioning the workings of our government is the electoral process of choosing a president an accurate depiction of the public’s needs or wants. Does the government have the best interest of the people at heart or the best interest of the parties? In an economy besieged by recession is the structure of our government viable? These issues have been discussed in the past and different groups have come to different ideas on economic and political structures and how they should be decided. In our country and many other nations around the world, the observation has often been that democracy accompanied by capitalism presents the best, most competent use of resources, and that governments led by those ideals promise the best outcome for the people. Other countries have adopted very diverse governing principles. The Communist ideals adopted by some nations support the establishment of an unobstructed, stateless, classless social order based on common ownership as a means of property and production.…

    • 2048 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory of the Cave

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the basic tenets that all we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of the ultimate Forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. The purpose of this allegory defines clearly the process of enlightenment. For a man to be enlightened, he must above all desire the freedom to explore and express himself. Plato's main concept of the cave is: people see reality as the visible world when reality really is more than the visible world.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Platos Republic

    • 1792 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Socrates describes a perfect city in Plato’s The Republic. Many questions are asked in the book, such as “What is an ideal city?” Or, “What is justice?” And, “Is justice in the city possible?” Socrates tries to find the real meaning of the word justice. He starts with justice within a single person, and then he tries to take that concept and apply it to the city. Then, to figure out the perfect city, he goes back to the single person to find justice there. He shows that the perfect city needs the people in it to be assigned to their place. People who play their role in the city must be people of justice for the city to have justice.…

    • 1792 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "wide, broad-browed") (428/427 BC – 348/347 BC), was a Classical Greek philosopher, who together with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, helped to lay the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world. Plato was originally a student of Socrates, and was as much influenced by his thinking as by what he saw as his teacher's unjust death.…

    • 2411 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is the factual perception on what human’s ignorant minds accept whatever they perceive without envisioning the reality. His use of “dark” imagery illustrates how a person is trapped and isolated in his own “cave” and conceives everything without visually seeing the “light” outside the cave. He conveys the idea that the “prisoners” are stuck and “chained” in their own reality because they were only shown one perspective from “childhood”. Plato wisely suggests the idea of using our senses and how we individually depend on them to find the truth outside of our “cave”. Morality being that the prisoners can remain in the cave, scared of knowing the truth.…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics