1 February 2013

Welcome back to another edition of Filosophy Fridays for your Saturday mornings.

The Daily Quota for today is not a big one, but it does provoke a lot of thought.
Once again we douse ourselves in the wisdom of Plato, mentor of Aristotle and student of Socrates.

In Plato's Republic, he paraphrases Socrates as he describes his Allegory of the Cave.
Basically, he describes a cave populated by a set of 'prisoners', lined up and facing the cave wall.
Behind them, a number of objects move around in front of a fire, causing their shadows to project onto the cave wall.

These shadows obsure the objects, sometimes causing them to appear normal and proportionate, other times not. This is all these prisoners know, so their perception of reality is distorted by their lack of insight. A projection becomes their reality, and they know of nothing else.

Plato had initially discussed this concept as part of his Theory on Forms, but I've taken a much greater lesson from this - our reality must always be doubted. What we are trained to know, the words we use to describe an object, the 'facts' that we bet our lives on...are facts until we turn and see the fire.
It is a lesson in favour of open-mindedness, an omen against dogma, and a lingering reminder of Kierkgaard's famous quotation - everything must be doubted.

According to Plato, the role of the philosopher in society is to enlighten these prisoners to the true nature of the Forms that they perceive - similar to the snake in the Garden of Eden.
Enjoy the explanation below, and form your own lessons from this anecdote; as I have.

READ IT HERE