Allegory of the Cave

Today in class we stopped discussing the history of Greece, but instead focused more specifically on Socrates. When Socrates was put on trial, he created an allegory to describe his defense. The allegory goes as such: Inside a dark cave, deep in the earth, prisoners are shackled so that they may only look at the wall. The wall featured shadows of objects cast by a grand fire and described by the murmurs of the people who held the items up. It is said that one of these people escapes the cave and enters the light of the sun. Despite the light being blinding, he adjusts to it and he's taken aback by the beauty of it. Out of generosity for the people still trapped in the cave, he ventures back into it, but as his eyes are no longer adjusted to the darkness so he no longer is able to walk around without fumbling, and everyone makes fun of him. The man tries to get the others to leave with him but he is called insane and even killed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A poor attempt at poetry

The Athenian Plague As the darkness fell on the land, so too did fear. So sure to win the war the Athenians had boasted, how could they have foreseen the horrors to come? Struggling, reaching desperately for their thirst to be quenched, a cruel joke it played on its victims. Pain, distraught, suffering until its victim reached their dying breath. Panic, fear, hopelessness to those who had evaded the Plague. How could anyone be brought to endure such pain? It starts with just one, one person to be sick. Then it becomes ten, ten people to be sick. Then it becomes 100, then 1000, then before you know it mass graves are being built. At least I, living thousand of years after this happened, would never experience an incident like this. Surely now, a plague so great could never happen.
Read more

David Fleniken Objective questions

David Fleniken  Objective questions Match each person (or horse) to their description: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Alexander _ B __                                             A. King of Macedonia from 359 BC to 336 BC,                                                                                       was assembling an army to fight the Persians                                                                                        but was assassinated before he could attack. 2.  Bucephalus __ C ___                                        B. Was tutored by Aristotle. Succeeded                                                                                         his  father and gained control of Macedonia                                                                                          at the age of 20. invaded and gained control                                                                    
Read more

The plague that hit Athens vs. COVID-19

The plague that hit Athens and COVID-19 share a few similarities. When the plague hit Athens, the people panicked, a lot. It is said that they held no regard for the law, nor for behaving honorably. We can see a few people acting like that right now. Fights breaking out over toilet paper, panic buying, and in some cases, even thefts all show the disregard for not only following the law but also for common etiquette. One difference would be that everyone took the plague in Athens very seriously, even to the point of abandoning anyone who had it; many people assumed they were going to die. While there are a lot of people who are acting rational and self-quarantining, there are also a lot of people who are not taking this seriously enough and are still going out in public. I heard a story the other day of a beach in Florida that was filled with people who didn't care about if they spread this epidemic. During the time of the Peloponnesian War, people didn't know a whole lot about
Read more