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.
Claudia, is very interesting to me your question about if we are prisoners in actuality, like in the Plato’s cave. Unfortunately, my answer is yes, and I think the reason is that we belong to a consumer society who favors the individual over the collective, and who favors the economic success over the social and personal development. Our society doesn’t value the knowledge, neither reflection, and gives priority to immediately achievements. As teacher, I have seen many times in the young people an indifferent attitude to learning. They don’t interest in thinking, criticism or dialogue, because these are not part of their lives they lead in their homes. Yes, I think we are prisoners of the consumption and the immediacy.
ResponderEliminar