Material for the Stout-Hearted Reader to Ruminate
♦ Essays, Lectures & Speeches ♦
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Plato (3rd century B.C.E.) was a Greek philosopher and student of Socrates. Plato’s greatest work is his book, The Republic. In it, he discusses the nature of justice and his plan for a model society. He concludes with a description of the ideal government.
This week’s text is Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, in Book VII of The Republic. The allegory describes how most people are comfortable to live their lives in ignorance of the truth. Further, when first faced with the truth, we recoil in fear and embrace our ignorance. However, if we resist the temptation to hide from the truth, we will gradually lose our fear and prefer it to ignorance. The allegory is written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, who is often understood to be Plato’s brother.
Join others from around the world in this weekly reading event! You can find Plato’s text at these websites:
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/ALLEGORY.HTM
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/~matlmc/Allegory_cave.pdf
This concludes the Weekly Read-Along series. –W.E. Poplaski
