When I read Plato's cave in my philosphy class, I was interested of the meaning of Plato's cave. The prisoners in Plato's cave prefer to remain prisoners because their desires overpower them from doing different things. They are used to be controlled by the puppeteers so they could not see what the real world is like. In other words, the prisoners could not distinguish from reality and fantasy. When the prisoners leave the cave, they can't see because their eyes need to adapt to the light. They feel pain because they are use to the dark environment instead of having light. Our desires imprison us and we are manipulated by the shadows. Therefore the prisoners could not understand the ways of surviving. An example would be someone who stayed inside their house watching TV all day and not going outside when their friends ask them to do exercise with them. That person would feel more comfortable sitting down watching TV even though they know that exercising is good for them. It is a lot easier to do so because our desires overpower our reasons and emotions to make us get up and do exercise rather watching TV all day.
Plato's cave
By tvbpug - Posted on October 4th, 2009
The general argument that Plato makes in his work The Allogorey of The Cave is that as people, we spend too much time focusing on the tiny details, instead of looking at the bigger picture in life. More specifically Plato argues that as we start to learn about the bigger picture we will not only understand the smaller details but we will have ideas as to what the bigger picture is of as well. He writes, " how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads." In this passage Plato suggests that a person only focused on a tiny detail couldn't see a bigger picture becase the detail is consuming him and it's all that he can think of, and if he never steps back to see the full portrait he will be very naive to many aspects this picture portrays. In conclusion Plato believes that people should take the time to look at the bigger things in life instead of staying sucked into the small details that usually consume us. In my view Plato is wrong. More specifically I believe that people always have a general idea of what the bigger picture is, and although they may not wish to realize they are too focused on a minor detail, they still see the big picture. Although Plato might object that we must be pulled by our arm backwards so that we can view the whole picture, I maintain that although were locked in on Mona Lisa's smile, we know know the story behind the picture, we know the artist, and we know the picture is of a woman. Therefore I conclude that all we need to do is reasure ourselves that Mona Lisa's smile will still be there when we get the courage to look at the whole painting, and keep faith that while our back is turned to the painting, it wont shift into something that we couldn't handle.
I agree that we're hardwired with an ability to see context. It makes us human. But we often miss the bigger picture. We all have bad habits and it usually takes a broader perspective to fix them. It takes thought to balance short term fun against your aspirations.
I think society works best when some people look at the big picture (as Plato wants) but others focus on the details. Our computerized economy encourages deeper understanding, by both supplying it and demanding it. So my sunshiny view is that Plato will be vindicated as more people discover sites like ProU and start contemplating all these weighty issues.