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Cave of Plato/Cliff of Sartre

The Cave

Cave Videos

• 8 Bit Plato's Allegory of the Cave
• The Allegory of the Cave Explained (Can end at 2m30s)

Cave Writings

• The Republic: Book VII (Allegory of the Cave) This writing by Plato is a dialogue between Socrates and another person.

Three ways to interpret The Cave

1. Ontology (Being):
   • Does a a person gain a better sense of their own self and of his/her place among people through deeper/higher thought and social awareness?
   • In this interpretation "leaving the cave and ascending to the surface" is the idea of thinking "higher" abstract thought. Through thought, specifically using concepts and ideas for introspection, we can begin to understand our selves.
   • Often when we learn something new about ourselves, we cannot adequately relay that change to others. This fuzzy, unclear moment happens twice in the allegory( Numbers 4 and 7 above). The inability to see clearly happens first because of the bright sunlight (too much truth/change at once) and a second time when the person returns to thhe "cave". On return, the eyes readjusting to the dark means we cannot fully explain what once we grasped internally as a truth, and what comes out is a mere copy/ watered down version of the new truth.
   • "The allegory of the cave is a symbolic depiction of how man is trapped in his everyday illusionary material existence, and how he can free himself from this trap through the philosophical dispositions of deep personal and social awareness and constant self-examination."(Tamayao)
2. Cosmology (The universe's construction/purpose):
   • Does the person leave their "normal" reality to enter into a more True reality?
   • Cosmology: studying the origin, composition, and fate of the universe:
   • Various eras in history have had their own concepts of a cosmology, distinctly different from our modern, scientific cosmology.
   • Plato thought the universe was structured according to the FORMS.
   • Forms are ideas (concepts) above and beyond us, which we can only tap into/understand through thinking.
   • All of our reality is merely a collection of Copies of those Forms.
   • The only reason you know what love is, or what a chair is, is because you can think "higher" and understand the true forms of Love and of Chairness, but what you experience as Love or as a chair is merely a cheap copy of the True Forms of Love and Chairness.
   • The allegory of the cave, then, is a representation of someone leaving behind the cheap copies of our reality (the cave in the allegory) and ascending into another reality, a more True reality found in the Higher Forms (the outside world in the allegory)
   • Often when we learn something new about the world, we cannot adequately express that new found concept to others. This fuzzy, unclear moment happens twice in the allegory( Numbers 4 and 7 above). The inability to see clearly happens first because of the bright sunlight (too much truth/change at once) and a second time when the person returns to the "cave". On return, the eyes readjusting to the dark means we cannot fully explain what once we grasped internally as a truth, and what comes out is a mere copy/ watered down version of the new truth.
3. Epistemology (Ways of knowing):
   • Does the person learn a new ideology or belief that allows them to see the world/life in a new way?
   • In this interpretation, someone learns a new way of knowing, of discerning or interpreting life.
   • This new way could be a religion, a political view, an ideology, that broadens their mind through and helps them analyze and re-see life and reality.
   • There is, however, also a cautionary tale in this interpretation: often the person who has acquired some new wisdom or ideology becomes a fervent proponent of that ideology and attempts to force feed everyone else to accept that same ideology.
   • That friend who turns vegan, or begins working out, or starts college, and, then, thinking they have found some grander truth in how to interpret reality, they constantly pressure friends and family to do the same (diet, workout, education...cults, like keto, or even business schemes like MLM)

The Cliff

Cliff Videos

• Existential Crisis
• Dread and angst of the unknown
• Mauvias foi

Cliff Writings

• A Philosophy Comic about the Inevitable Anguish of Living a Brief Life in an Absurd World
• "Sartre and the Anguish of Freedom"
• Depressive realism: We keep chasing happiness, but true clarity comes from depression and existential angst. Admit that life is hell, and be free

Cave and Cliff Assignments

• Write at least one-half page per each of the three ways of interpreting the Cave. Discuss your own personal experience, or the experience of someone you personally know. be clear on how the metaphor connects directly to each part of those experiences.
• Write one page discussing your edges of dread and what you do to successfully hide from that dread.