As children we are very quick to accept just about everything we
hear. Look back on your childhood and remember how much of a reality Santa
Claus was to you. No matter how impractical the idea of a large man living at
the North Pole, delivering presents to every child in the world one night a
year by sleigh was, as a child, this was real because our parents said so and
the presents showed. We did not bother to question the physics of Santa fitting
down chimneys or even the sheer possibility of nine flying reindeer. In many
ways our very first political views were formed the same way, and in many ways
as children, we are like the bound prisoners in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
In Plato’s piece the bound prisoner cannot look to either side of
him, only staring at the wall directly in front of him. The wall shows the
prisoners shadows cast by a fire and statues behind them that they do not know
exist. However, being the only things they have ever seen, the shadows are all
too real to the prisoners. If they see a shadow of a tree, when they speak
amongst themselves that is every prisoner’s understanding of what a tree is. In
the same way we learn ideals from our parents, grandparents, and elementary
school teachers. We pick up on our family’s moral code and it becomes our own.
We regurgitate our parent’s political views, whether we know anything about
politics or not, we know who our parent’s support. In school we are taught a
basic understanding of government and at a very young age, stand and recite the
Pledge of Allegiance every day. We don’t question our parent’s beliefs or
consider the other perspective of their political views. We don’t even know
what the opposing view is. All we know is what we have been shown and, to us as
children, that is truth.
As we develop, gain individuality and experience more things we
become more like the prisoner who is freed from his bonds. As the prisoner is
allowed to stand up and look around he sees the fire and statues, which
instantly becomes more real to him than the shadows on the cave wall. Even
though he believes he now knows what is real, the prisoner has never been
outside of the cave to see anything else. As we grow as people we begin to
think for ourselves and develop our own ideas. However while we are still young
adults we still have a limited spectrum. Before, and possibly after as well,
going to college, we have lived in the same place our whole life. If we grew up
on a farm in a farming community, we may not have the same beliefs that the
eight-year-old version of ourselves had, but chances are our worldview is
limited to the problems we know from a farming community. When
pondering Plato’s Allegory of the Cave I
began to worry. I worry how many citizens, citizens who vote and decide the
direction and policy makers of our nation, actually become the prisoner who
walks from the cave and sees the flowers and trees and realizes that the sun is
what makes this all possible. Virtually every citizen reaches the second step
of education. But how many of the people who grew up wealthy will leave that
lifestyle to see the poverty in our own nation and abroad. How many people who
grew up in poverty will get a chance to go away to college to see the issues
that affect the nation as a whole and not just the city they are from. As a
society, how can we assure that as many people as possible come to full
understanding, reaching what Plato defined as the “Form of the Good”? The University
of Washington has their own idea in the video below. However, even college
alone can’t bring us to full understanding. That is a destination we must take
it upon ourselves to reach in life. I just worry how we can be sure that we are
making the most beneficial decisions for our nation if the majority of our
citizens have never left the cave.
I really liked your application of Palto's Cave allegory to our real-life situations. I can definitely agree with you when you say that as children we are like the men in the cave. Slowly, as we develop as humans, we begin to pull ourselves from bondage and become enlightened (at least we hope so).
While I definitely agree that college is a good mechanism to do, this I don't think it is the only one. People can become enlightened through other methods as well. For instance, I feel that real life experience is just as valuable as the knowledge from a textbook. Without it, we would have no context for which to apply our college educations. Just a thought, but I'd be curious to hear if you agree with me.
I more than agree with you! I tried to get that point across in my last paragraph that college alone is not enough to bring us to full understanding and that we need those real world experiences to achieve the moment of "seeing the sun" as the prisoner does. Just leaving it to an academic institution, there is still potential for a university to not be very diverse, to be close to home, to not offer study abroad or other world-wide educational opportunities, etc. While a school like this may broaden your knowledge or boost your IQ it does not necessarily deliver us to the Form of the Good that Plato describes.
In order to achieve this full understanding I think it is necessary to have those real world experiences, specifically being able to understand the world in a way we did not grow up seeing the world. That's when I talk about the rich kid going off and learning of the inner city and poverty, both domestic and abroad, and the poor inner city kid getting a chance to leave that city to go to college. I think that we are instilled ideals based on our parents and where we grew up so in order to reach the Form of the Good we have to experience things that are different than, and sometimes in contrast of, what we grew up with. College is great but if you go from only seeing the fire and statues to a college that only shows you fire and statues you don't gain anything. You have to go out and see and do things that take you "out of the cave".
I'm curious as to your opinion regarding the concept of relativism. When it comes to political ideologies, it appears to be that relativism best describes the holding of beliefs in individuals of all ages.
During childhood and early adulthood, I would say that relativism is less of an influence on their beliefs and impressionability more so. In retrospect, I recognize that my lack of ignorance of politics may have been an influence in taking up the ideologies of my parents, but most of it was accepting them as they seemed logical.
But where does that stand in terms of relativism and the concept of true knowledge? I think that given the political schema of the United States, political understanding via true knowledge is impossible; the complexity of political issues and lack of transparency are the two main factors in political relativism.
It is very interesting how you seem to say that we are prisoners when we are young, and only hold the views of our parents and what our teachers tell us, but you see college as something different. I do not believe that attending college makes a person enlightened, nor does age. I am not convinced that we, as humans, ever become enlightened in our lifetimes.
But instead of delving into my skeptical mentality, consider that by going to college, we are simply switching caves, not freeing ourselves. First, we are imprisoned with the views of our parents. We are too young to think otherwise. Then we are imprisoned by the views of our professors. We believe they are correct more often than they are. In order to free oneself from the cave in modern society, one must become separate from institutions that use influence ands standing to impart their views on others.
We must realize that we have gone from the pot to the frying pan before we can begin to become enlightened.
Connor,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your application of Palto's Cave allegory to our real-life situations. I can definitely agree with you when you say that as children we are like the men in the cave. Slowly, as we develop as humans, we begin to pull ourselves from bondage and become enlightened (at least we hope so).
While I definitely agree that college is a good mechanism to do, this I don't think it is the only one. People can become enlightened through other methods as well. For instance, I feel that real life experience is just as valuable as the knowledge from a textbook. Without it, we would have no context for which to apply our college educations. Just a thought, but I'd be curious to hear if you agree with me.
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteI more than agree with you! I tried to get that point across in my last paragraph that college alone is not enough to bring us to full understanding and that we need those real world experiences to achieve the moment of "seeing the sun" as the prisoner does. Just leaving it to an academic institution, there is still potential for a university to not be very diverse, to be close to home, to not offer study abroad or other world-wide educational opportunities, etc. While a school like this may broaden your knowledge or boost your IQ it does not necessarily deliver us to the Form of the Good that Plato describes.
In order to achieve this full understanding I think it is necessary to have those real world experiences, specifically being able to understand the world in a way we did not grow up seeing the world. That's when I talk about the rich kid going off and learning of the inner city and poverty, both domestic and abroad, and the poor inner city kid getting a chance to leave that city to go to college. I think that we are instilled ideals based on our parents and where we grew up so in order to reach the Form of the Good we have to experience things that are different than, and sometimes in contrast of, what we grew up with. College is great but if you go from only seeing the fire and statues to a college that only shows you fire and statues you don't gain anything. You have to go out and see and do things that take you "out of the cave".
I'm curious as to your opinion regarding the concept of relativism. When it comes to political ideologies, it appears to be that relativism best describes the holding of beliefs in individuals of all ages.
ReplyDeleteDuring childhood and early adulthood, I would say that relativism is less of an influence on their beliefs and impressionability more so. In retrospect, I recognize that my lack of ignorance of politics may have been an influence in taking up the ideologies of my parents, but most of it was accepting them as they seemed logical.
But where does that stand in terms of relativism and the concept of true knowledge? I think that given the political schema of the United States, political understanding via true knowledge is impossible; the complexity of political issues and lack of transparency are the two main factors in political relativism.
It is very interesting how you seem to say that we are prisoners when we are young, and only hold the views of our parents and what our teachers tell us, but you see college as something different. I do not believe that attending college makes a person enlightened, nor does age. I am not convinced that we, as humans, ever become enlightened in our lifetimes.
ReplyDeleteBut instead of delving into my skeptical mentality, consider that by going to college, we are simply switching caves, not freeing ourselves. First, we are imprisoned with the views of our parents. We are too young to think otherwise. Then we are imprisoned by the views of our professors. We believe they are correct more often than they are. In order to free oneself from the cave in modern society, one must become separate from institutions that use influence ands standing to impart their views on others.
We must realize that we have gone from the pot to the frying pan before we can begin to become enlightened.