Plato's+Cave

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

The Allegory of the Cave
From Plato's most famous book, The Republic. Socrates is talking to a young follower of his named Glaucon, and is telling him this fable to illustrate what it's like to be a philosopher -- a lover of wisdom. Most people, including ourselves, live in a world of relative ignorance. We are even comfortable with that ignorance, because it is all we know. When we first start facing truth, the process may be frightening, and many people run back to their old lives. But if you continue to seek truth, you will eventually be able to handle it better. In fact, you want more!

It's true that when you become a truth seeker, many people around you may think you are weird or even a danger to society, but you don't care. Once you've tasted the truth, you won't ever want to go back to being ignorant!

Socrates says at the end of this passage: "Whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge **the idea of good appears last of all**, and is seen only with an **effort**; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that **this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.**"

It takes an effort to know what is right and good. This knowledge may not com easily. Yet once you have it, it changes you.

[Socrates is speaking with Glaucon] === [Socrates:] And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. ===

[Glaucon:] I see.
=== And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent. ===

Very true.
=== And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow? ===

That is certain.
=== And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, -- will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him? ===

Far truer.
=== And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to look at and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him? ===

True, he said.
=== And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he 's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities. ===

Not all in a moment, he said.
=== He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day? ===

Certainly.
=== He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold? ===

Certainly, he would.
=== And if they were in the habit of conferring honors among themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after, and which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with Homer, ===

To be sure, he said.
=== And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable) would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death. ===

No question, he said.
=== This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual, and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life, must have his eye fixed. === = = = = =// In-class Exercise //=

You work from 8 am to 8 pm, 6 days a week, and the state raises your children for you. You see your children Sundays and late at night.
== Your job is making Greenfood. It is the only thing there is to eat. The material for Greenfood is supplied by the State and no one is told exactly what it is. There are hundreds of different jobs involved with making Greenfood, from manual labor to management, packaging, marketing, accounting, etc., etc. Some of these jobs seem to have little point. While some Retrolanders are full time educators, postal workers, auto mechanics, etc., everyone works at least one day a week helping with Greenfood production and distribution. ==

Retroland, however, teaches that Escapees don’t exist, and that beyond Retroland there is nothing but desolation and danger.
== There are a few Escapees who have managed in secrecy to return to Retroland and pretend to be loyal citizens. They have sacrificed their freedom to quietly tell the truth about Retroland and the outside world to some people under the dome. These underground Escapees are the ones who have helped the Escapee committees to slip into Retroland and confront a few people at a time. ==

Happy people in a real-life Retroland: []

__ The Retroland Game __ = The game consists of an interaction between Retroland dwellers and escapees in which the escapees try to persuade the dwellers to leave. = = You'll need to make up a fictional character to play -- a Retroland dweller or an escapee -- based on the information above, plus your own imagination. = = If you're on a Retroland team, prepare to confront some Escapees who are going to visit you. = = If you're an Escapee, plan to say and do things to convince the Retroland dwellers to join you. =

This begins the role-playing exercise. (Real) last names beginning A through Melissa Martinez are Retroland dwellers. (Real) last names starting with McCollum through Z are escapees.
== Type, double spaced, 100-150 words about (a) your position in Retroland, or (b) what you do on the outside as an escapee. Make up a fictional name for the roleplay (not the same as your Philosophy code name). Bring this typed response to the next class to use with your team. ==

** One person on each team volunteers to be a coordinator. **
== As a Retroland coordinator, your official position is that there is no outside world and that the Escapees who are visiting you are therefore frauds. Yet you can't just send them away. Your job is to keep people on your side from getting too interested, but you can’t forbid them from asking questions. ==

On the Escapee side, your job is to convince Retrolanders to leave. Your team coordinator makes sure that no one on your side acts angry or hostile.
== You Escapees are all enlightened – you’ve seen the light – and you know that the Retrolanders are victims of ignorance; they’re not bad people. You’re not going to be able to convince them to leave if they get angry at you. ==

= **Post-Game Analysis** = // 1. From “Goal Power” by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Time magazine, 17 September 2012 // The National Institute of Mental Health published a revealing article in 2010 on the phenomenon known as emotional inertia--a sort of fixed state of depression, low self-esteem, anxiety or other condition that rarely seems to change, even in the face of circumstances that warrant change. Using a series of role-playing games in which subjects were asked to work through a family problem, Investigators found that when the need to act was most pressing, subjects dug into their habitual moods more than ever. The urgency paradoxically pushed them to cling more closely to the thing they knew, even if it was bad and unhealthy. [] Human beings can be remarkably static creatures; it's practically woven into our DNA. Why move from the familiarity of the campfire circle and step into the scary wilderness, even if wonderful, life-giving things might be there? [However,] life is never static. Everything is either growing or dying. When you delay your diet until tomorrow or wait to quit smoking until your next birthday, you are choosing, in a day-to-day way, to follow the route of the dying. Taking action, of course, is the very hardest [step]: the moment you stand up from the campfire, dust off your pants and begin walking toward the woods. Difficult as it is, though, it can be the start of an inexorable forward momentum. As Newton taught, a body in motion stays in motion.
 * "Emotional inertia": why cave dwellers sometimes choose to stay in the dark **


 * Questions for your contemplation: **

= Assignment: = Organize & turn in a mini-portfolio in your folder as follows 1. First part: Explain how Dr. Oz’s “emotional inertia” relates to the myth of the cave. 2. Next part: Type a report, double-spaced: minimum 1 page, maximum 2 pages: Explain what you learned from the debate, from your own participation and from those on your team who participated well. Explain what you learned (1) about yourself, (2) about other people, (3) about The Allegory of the Cave. You may quote the Cave excerpt from Socrates. Your Retroland work should be in your folder, with the report above on top, and under it, your own Roleplay Bio and all the work you’ve done on this exercise.
 * What’s your cave? **
 * What goodness can you find in yourself that you can follow out of your personal cave to your own truth and happiness? **
 * The light within each person is the opposite of the cave. It is Plato’s “Idea of the Good.” It is “the kingdom of heaven.” **
 * It may be the hardest **** realm to live in, at first, because of “the bewilderment of the eyes.” **
 * Yet it is the only truly human realm. **

This begins the role-playing exercise. (Real) last names beginning A through Melissa Martinez are Retroland dwellers. (Real) last names starting with McCollum through Z are escapees.