Plato's Cave

[Kaplok Kaplok]

In the allegory of the cave, Plato describes a group of men who remain chained to the depths of a cave from birth; their condition is such that they can only look towards the wall in front of them since they are chained and unable to move.

Just behind the prisoners at a certain distance and above their heads, a bonfire illuminates the wall. In the middle, there is a corridor in which men circulate with various objects that, thanks to the illumination of the bonfire, project their shadows so the prisoners can see.

The prisoners consider the shadows of the objects that are projected to be real since they know nothing of what is happening behind their backs. However, if one of the men were to break free from the chains and look back, he would only be confused and annoyed by reality.

The firelight would cause him to look away, and the blurred figures he could see would seem less real to him than the shadows he had seen all his life.

Similarly, if someone were to force this person to walk in the direction of the fire and past it until they were outside of the cave, the sunlight would prove more bothersome to him, and he would want to return to the dark area.

The allegory ends, however, with the prisoner entering the cave once again to “free” his former companions in chains, thereby provoking laughter. The joke would be that this would prove his eyesight to have been impaired by his passage from sunlight to the darkness of the cave.

When this prisoner tries to untie and raise his former companions towards the light, Plato believes them to be capable of killing him; he is sure they would indeed take his life if given the opportunity.

This entire story is an allusion to You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.‘ effort to help men to reach the truth and their failure in doing so only to be condemned to death himself.

____​

No matter how old this allegory is, no matter how modern time gets, it is earie how it still applies.

People has a tendency to hold on to belief, and believe that the representation of the truth is truth itself. They would stay in the comfort of believing that the representations of reality is truth and nothing else, than go through the pains of seeing the truth with reason.

People would even be likely to condemn to death anyone who helps them see the truth, from Socrates, to Jesus, to You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. or even to Rizal. And unfortunately, this comdemnation of men might go on til the end of man's existence.

 

[ayearsago00]

Eto talaga di ko malilimutan na topic sa philo namin hehe

 

[Imperial_Nuggets]

Is choices a problem or a construct built within our conciousness.

 

[Kaplok Kaplok]

Is choices a problem or a construct built within our conciousness.

Pwede paki elaborate?

 

[Imperial_Nuggets]

Pwede paki elaborate?

Apologies, i mean is yung isang individual lumabas ng cave sa realworld narealize nya na yun ang truth as perceived by his physical senses. After nyang maexperience yun, bumalik sya sa cave at kinonvince nya yung kasamahan nya na hindi yan totoo at nasa labas ng kweba ung totoong mundo.

Choice nya na umalis ng cave dahil alam nya sa sarili nya na may mali at choice din nya na bumalik sa loob para palayain ung iba. Kaso hindi sila naniwala sa kanya (their choice).

Ang aking katanungan ay kung ang choice ay problema or is construct sa ating kaisipan.

 

[Kaplok Kaplok]

Choice nya na umalis ng cave dahil alam nya sa sarili nya na may mali at choice din nya na bumalik sa loob para palayain ung iba. Kaso hindi sila naniwala sa kanya (their choice).

When we face choices, it is logical na kailangan natin timbangin ang facts. And when we know the facts at natimbang natin mabuti, we can truly say it is "my" choice. This are the kind of choices that we will keep choosing even when threatened with consequences, including death. Maybe we can call these choices "principles". Eto nmn ang pinakita nung unang character.

In contrast, yung mga kasamahan nya na hindi naniwala sakanya, at pumatay sakanya, they are not truly making choices. In fact, they are dodging having to make a choice. They just want to stay in the comfort of choices already made for them.
This is the kind of choice na sinasabi mo siguro na "construct sa isipan".

Sadly, this is also majority of us. We think we have a free will. Pero in reality, we mostly just follow our intuitions. We think we weigh the facts, but in reality we just choose the facts more comfortable for our feelings, than the ones that has to painfully go through logic. Especially if this logic threatens to deconstruct our currently held beliefs.