Unit 1: Vision of men and world

Plato’s cave myth

The myth of the cave or allegory of the cave was written by Plato as a dialog between Socrates and Plato’s brother, Glaucon. Imagine a group of people who have lived in a cave all their lives. They have a fire behind, and only can see the shadows of the things projecting in the walls. Then, they begins to name those shadows. People in the cave don’t understand that the shadows are not really. They are like prisoners. The philosopher, says Socrates, can understand this, because he can see “the  true form of reality”. We can think about this at our times: are we like prisoners in any way? Think about the possible “shadows” in our lifes, in our country. What can it would be? And remember: people in the cave don’t know that they’re prisoners. They believe they’re free, but they only know about the cave, the fire behind, and the white wall in front of them. 

Vision of men according to Aristotle: Virtue

Is it possible earthy happiness?

According to Aristotle, “earthy happiness can be reach via reason and the acquisition of virtue. He states that human achievements are animated by a purpose, and that human beings have a natural desire to instantiate their ideals through action”. So, people should be pride in being excellent at what they do. Let us stop here. We don’t take “reason” by now, but “virtue”. What does it mean at least?  Following Aristotle, virtue are “good actions” which were repeated day by day. In this way, human beings become perfect through “virtue practice”. To Aristotle, virtues are habits. Many years later, phenomenologists like Dietrich von Hildebrand would say another thing: virtue is not a simple replay of good actions. Affectivity (the emotional response) has an essential role in human beings’ moral life.

Photo Book

This photo book is a collection of pictures related to four specific units:
Vision of men and the world
Medieval Heaven and Hell
The modern world: Reason, science and progress
The world after the wars