Plato, the most creative and influential of Socrates' disciples, wrote dialogues, in which he spoke with Socrates about philosophy. In "The Republic," Plato sums up his views in an image of ignorant humanity, trapped in the depths and not even aware of its own limited perspective. The rare individual escapes the limitations of that cave and, through a long, tortuous intellectual journey, discovers a higher realm, a true reality, with a final, almost mystical awareness of everything that exists.
The
Allegory of the Cave
Imagine prisoners, who
have been chained since their childhood deep inside a cave:
not only are their limbs immobilized by the chains; their heads are chained in
one direction as well so that their gaze is fixed on a wall.
Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire,
and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which puppets of various animals,
plants, and other things are moved along. The puppets cast shadows
on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When one of the
puppet-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall
causes the prisoners to believe that the words come from the shadows.
The prisoners engage in what appears to us to
be a game: naming the shapes as they come by. This, however, is the only reality that they know, even though they are seeing merely
shadows of objects.
Suppose the prisoner is released….
Allegory of the Cave Storyboard
1.
Fold paper into 6 squares
2.
Draw, illustrate & decorate
pictures that tell the story in each square.
3.
Predict what would happen to the people
if they were able to “leave the cave”
4.
Suppose the prisoner is released….
o Would the prisoner be compelled to turn around?
o What would happen if the prisoner looked into the light
of the fire?
o How would the prisoner react to seeing the source of the
shadows?
o What might occur if the prisoner exited the cave?
o
Compare the world outside the cave with the world within.
o
Would the prisoner want to return to the cave?
Choose one or two questions to address if the prisoner was released from his chains.
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