Allegory of the Cave

Week 1:

 In the Allegory of the Cave, Socrates suggests that, without philosophical education, we are all like the prisoners in the cave. What are your thoughts on this? How is philosophy supposed to be liberating? Do you think Socrates is right to be so pessimistic about life without philosophy?

My interpretation is that the individuals in the cave had no notion as to what was going on in the outside world, in the cave those who where chained up could not see the light of day, or the real world but only the shadows that the fire brought to them, their brain was being fed what the puppeteers wanted them to see.

They were blind to the realities of the world outside of the cave; they were unable to think, to grasps ideas, unable to express themselves. They were unable to distinguish reality from what they were used to seeing. 

Socrates paints a vivid scenario, like the people of the cave we have very little knowledge of what is reality and what is not. We allow others to think for us, we accept what is giving to us and we do not question or argue when we know that they may be wrong in their interpretation.

I think it is liberating to be able to think on our own, to make our own decisions, our own choices, to belief in the realism of what is. We are nothing in our own bodies if we are not allowed to belief and express how we feel, what we feel and why we feel.

Do I agree that Socrates is right to be pessimistic about life without philosophy, I agree, if we did not have philosophy we would not be able to examine the basics of life in the society we live in, we would live in a lie just to appease everyone.