Platos Cave Analysis

Platos Cave AnalysisImagine a subterranean cave in which humans be shackled by their necks to a single place. They look at been held there totally of their lives. Fires placed behind the group by unseen forces harbour left these captives to see their cause shadows play upon a screen. Those held argon not still awargon that the kitchen stoves and shadows that they see are themselves. Yet, these shadows conserve gestate the captives are fascinated. The illusion so effective, that the captives do not recognize their incarceration and are satisfied to live their lives in this way. What would happen if genius of these captives would be set allow? The prisoner would be helpless, his eyes would be overloaded, and he could not stand up on his let. Inundated with sensory information, his idea would refuse to accept what the senses were submitting as adjust. It would not be surprising if anyone released from such a prison would wish to stay. Stay with the k like a shotn. S tay with what is comfort commensurate. Not for our prisoner though. Our prisoner, forced to turn away from the fire, begins a long uncomfortable voyage with a tunnel toward a blinding light coaxed by the liberator toward the uncomfortable. The light is blinding. Finally emerging from the cave, eyes burning, senses raging, the prisoner soon finds a new, unimaginable serviceman. No longer fascinated by shadow, the prisoner is free to learn about the universe of discourse, and more importantly, themselves. This paper will explore how this bill has been translated to modern audiences through with(predicate) the film, The hyaloplasm (Wachowski Bros 1999).Platos cave falsehood has been a marvelous fabrication for the point for knowledge for 2,400 years. Plato published this cave myth in The Republic the metaphor of the cave is arguably the most famous branch of this work. What may jazz as a surprise to many another(prenominal) is that there are parallels to the cave myth i n many of todays present-day(a) stories. unmatched of which, is the tale of modern in The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999). Who can forget the image when modern wakes to find himself bound in a tube, he struggles free, released from his prison, he is made to grasp the legality of his smell and the humanity. He finds that all of his life up to that point has been an elaborate illusion created for him to hide him from the fact that he been held prisoner his entire life. This paper will show that both(prenominal) of these stories take a hop a Socratic search for knowledge and a deeper sym runningy of the good.The myth of the cave is an allegory in which we follow our prisoner on his postulate for what Socrates, Platos teacher, refer ruby to as the just life (Plato The Republic). Socrates primary concern was that our souls be in the best condition possible (Plato Phaedo). The way in which this is accomplished is through examination and inquirying ones place within the world. The cave myth gives a literary account of the Socratic Method, as well an example as to the logic and approach of Socrates relentless questioning. In this way, we control a tidy sum into Socrates methodology, and furthermore, into Socrates notion for complaint of the soul (Plato Phaedo). Socrates care of the soul is comprised of these four elements beliefs in meaning, gateway of ignorance, questioning of reality, and hope in an dissolver, or to put it some other way, trust in the knowledge of the good (Plato Phaedo). On this subject of care of the soul, there is a deep comparability amongst The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999)and Platos allegory (Plato The Republic).We can make a closer examination into the comparison among neo and our prisoner on his quest for the care of the soul. Like the allegory of the Cave, The Matrix dramatically conveys the view that ordinary appearances do not outline true reality and that gaining the truth changes ones life. Using the ideas of care of the soul, we are asked to rise belief in meaning. Saying this differently we are asked to recollect what we hold to be true. The prisoners can differentiate shadows and sounds, apply names to the shadows depicting social functions and even discern the patterns in their presentation. To this extent, they have some true beliefs and some false assumptions, but in advance the discussion regresses into a metaphysical exercise whether or not a thing is a thing because we name it so, or whether or not the thing has its own inherent thingness it is safe to enounce that we can all hold some things to be true. However, there are things that are mysterious to all in the case of the cave and in The Matrix. In both stories, there is omnipresent image of the unseen attain at work those who are responsible for the structure of the cave and the world in which the matrix exists. In an online posting, John Partridge, Assistant Professor of philosophy at Wheaton College, explores the correlation in the midst of these two stories. He suggests that,Many contemporary readers recoil at the awful politics of the Cave. Who, after all, are the puppeteers? wherefore do they deceive their fellow cave dwellers (Partridge)?It is only through the catching and realization that there is an unseen hand, or truths with which we had been oblivious, that we can fully exercise to learn the truth. For the prisoner, it is through his release that he comes to realize that his notion of truth is skewed. For Neo, he had been suspicious of his reality for some time and seeks understanding. The fascinating thing for Neo is that when his situation comes to a head and he finally meets Morpheus, his liberator and teacher, he is informed that he cannot be told what is untrue, he must be shown. Interestingly, Neo is afforded a choice, the data track of ignorance in the form of a blue pad or the road of knowledge in the form of a red pill. The taking of the red pill is an admission of ignorance. In this way, the notion of admission of ignorance is forced on him in the form of a choice. The prisoner and Neo are similar, they must be brought into the light of knowledge, and into the admission of their own ignorance. The similarities continue, they both share a common path to understanding that their notions of truth have been given to them and that reality itself is not what it seems.Conversely, there are some differences between the two stories by way of the coming to admission of ignorance and the understanding of truth. Neos path to understanding truth is one that starts out with him living comfortably with the sneak suspicion that there is a something not quite justly with the world. His quest to understand what is wrong with the world leads him inexorably into a very downhearted and dystopian reality filled with conflict and misery. Their only purpose is as food for the machines. Furthermore, it is a world with people forced underground. His quest literally leads him int o the cave. By contrast, we have the story of the prisoner. The prisoner is released from bondage. He/She did not actively seek to understand their world or acquire new knowledge. He/She would have been just as happy reflection shadows on the screen. The path to understanding may have been difficult and uncomfortable, but in the end, the prisoner is lead to the light of knowledge, a utopian world within which the prisoner is now truly free. Neo, knowing what being a prisoner means, has his superlative fears realized when he discovers that he has always been a slave and is now relegated to a fearful existence. The prisoner, on the other hand, comes to the realization of what being a prisoner means, and is delighted with his/her new life. Thus, we have the juxta panorama of the objective versus the subjective.The neighboring tenet of understanding Socrates care of the soul is the questioning of reality. Released from the illusory world, our prisoner is lead down the path of underst anding. Socrates states,and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is draw close nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, what will be his reply (Plato The Republic)?What would his reply be? He would be move into questioning everything after he now believes that he had been mystified all this time. This is where we would find Neo brought back into the matrix for raising by Morpheus, again we have an inverse of realities but the aims are the same. The prisoner is coming to question and understand the real world. Neo is coming to question and understand the unreal world of the matrix. Now we are diving into the world of the metaphysical. Discerning whether we can determine reality in either of these two worlds is a real problem. Partridge states,Since the real world and the simulated world are worlds in which the senses receive information, the practical problem is not t hat they are discontinuous, but that they are indiscernible (Partridge).This is a real problem for Neo as we find after his kung fu training with Morpheus, when his teacher questions Neos understanding of reality, You believe your really breathing? He is later told, coming upon a tyke bending spoons with his mind in Yuri Gellar fashion, that he will only come to understand the real nature of the matrix once he comes to understand that in the matrix, there is no spoon (The Matrix).It seems as though the differences between the two tales on a metaphysical level does not check them from sending a similar message. They both send the message of the unreliability of the epistemological information gathered through the senses. They stress a contend to disconnect from the senses in order to attain genuine knowledge. The stories also wonderfully illustrate the psychological hardship that is placed on the characters having to do so.Thus, the question, by what means does Neo come to disco ver hope in an outcome or trust in his knowledge of the good. For our prisoner, the question is answered very succinctly, shoemakers last of he will be able to see the lie, and not untarnished reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another and he will analyse him as he is Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him (Plato The Republic).For Neo hope in answer comes in a much more personal form. After many trials, the film climaxes with Neo coming to grips with the fact that he has been The One all along. Coaxed into questioning his reality by Morpheus, he is left to follow the path of self-realization on his own. In this way, he can develop his own care of the soul. He overcame the introduction of self-doubt in the form of the oracle. He overcame the overpowering force of the agents to become reborn, phoenix like, to the understanding of himself. This revelation would enkindle to be extremely transforma tive. Clearly, he has come to grips with his knowledge and belief in the good. Partridge claims, There is a single item the knowledge of which makes the apprehender more integrated and more powerful, and for Neo it is self-knowledge. The same message holds true for our prisoner. It is through the knowing of the true self, which causes the prisoner to become productive, a rescuer of himself and others. After the prisoners revelation of the good, his first thoughts are of the others in the cave. They both have come to know of Socrates primary concern of care of the soul, trust in the knowledge of the good.Finally, we look to ourselves concerning what these stories tell us. It is the path of knowledge that is placed before us and the stakes are for the care of the soul. For Neo, his quest was to take him through the trials and hardships of self-realization that he would have to endure so that he readiness come to know for himself that he was indeed The One. Our prisoners quest mirro rs this. Ultimately, we are drawn to Socratic questions in what ways are we living diminished lives? argon we resting on our own ideas of knowledge? Are we even asking the right questions? It is through the stinging realization of our own ignorance that we are finally able to start our own paths toward the understanding of the good. Plato makes it plain when he uses Socrates to tell us that we are all prisoners in the cave. If any doubt this, recall the position we are in when go to see movies such as The Matrix itself. Imagine a dark world filled with people watching shadows on a screen