PLATO: The Allegory of the Cave -Questions/Analysis

 

02 Feb. 2005

 

PLATO: The Allegory of the Cave

Questions for Critical Reading

 

 

2. How does the allegory of the prisoners in the cave watching shadows on a wall relate to us today? What shadows do we see, and how do they distort our sense of what is real.

 

           One can say that we are like prisoners in this world watching realties on television, newspapers or other types of medium that shape our feelings and intention of life. Man is divided by religion, politics, income, education and location. In America, our shadow is the Iraq War and how the Bush administration distorts this shadow in shaping our concept that the Iraq Invasion by the United States was true and justified. In return, this unjust war helped Bush win re-election. The strategy to paint us a picture of Saddam as the evil one, who supported terrorism against the United States (9/11) attack and building weapons of mass destruction shadowed our reality against Iraq. What is right and what is wrong? Who are the judge and jury? Are we all prisoners? How can we expect for everyone to think the same or think what is right or wrong. Is America always right and the world is wrong? Plato was born in the upper class and highly educated, who is to say that Plato thinking is the right thinking or right way?

 

 

4. If Plato is right that the material world is an illusion, how would too great a reliance on materialism affect ethical decisions?

 

           They say what goes around comes around and Money is the root of all evil. There is truth to those statements and it relates to how man is so materialistic. It seems that in the political world, you need money to run and win a campaign. It is lots of money. Politicians’ life support is money. How can they make ethical decisions if special interest groups who donate large sums of money to their campaign make impartial judgment? They can't. This does not only happen here but throughout the world, politicians are influenced in who gives them money. Large companies will always have influence upon political and judicial leaders.

 

 

5. What ethical issues, if any, are raised by Plato's allegory?

 

           I believe Plato's allegory ethical issues are wisdom and virtue. In the end of his allegory, Plato emphasized duties and obligations of the rulers and statesman that in the end, power and rule and sliver and gold are not the end but wisdom and virtue are the blessings of life. Those rulers must never forget the lower world while ascending to the upper world.

 

 

6. In paragraph 49, Plato states that the virtue of wisdom "contains a divine element.” What is “a divine element”? What does this statement seem to mean? Do you agree with Plato?

 

           Wisdom is the divine element. To have power and money but no wisdom is like a gangster obtaining his so call riches by robbing innocent people or for example ENRON making lots of monies by inflating the financial records but in the end getting caught of its misdeeds. Plato is right because he saw what happen in his time when rulers were only after the money and didn’t have the wisdom to benefit the people for the state.