Dancing shadows and a flickering flame
the murmurs and echoes from wall to wall
their life in the cave, everyday is the same
this is all they know, yet its nothing at all.
There had to be something greater
these chains and shackles held their thoughts
the cave is nothing but a dictator
Until one gave life a shot.
The shadows revealed their true colors
he couldn't believe what he saw
he couldn't keep this from his neighbors
the beauty of life left him in awe.
He shouted for his friends to come
he had to share the enlightenment
yet they remained in their shackles
they couldn't understand his excitement
He was just another echo and shadow on the wall
and just like everything else, he meant nothing at all.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Allegory of the Cave Questions
1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
The Allegory of the Cave represents how everyone can be exposed or experience the same thing, yet we may still all perceive it in a completely different way, based on our backgrounds and what we know and what we don't know.
2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The shackles, the fire, and the array shadows on the cave wall are the key elements in the imagery used.
3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
The allegory shows how people are learning something new, and you can't just have an idea or a thought put into your head, we all have the capability to learn, and learn in our own way.
4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and the cave represent how sometimes we feel limited to how much we can learn, not allowing the prisoners to expand their knowledge.
5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
Pressure from others, or the fear of the unknown are my shackles, because I know there's so much more to life, I just don't know what it takes to get there.
6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
The freed prisoner was amazed by this world he never knew existed, and when he tried to share the excitement with his fellow prisoners, he was nothing but another shadow on the wall.
7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
Once the prisoner is exposed to the real world, and realizes how how big life is compared to life in the cave.
8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
The prisoner is free once the realize that there is more to life beyond the cave. They have to leave the comfort zone, and enlighten themselves.
9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
There is definitely a distinction between appearances and reality, because you can see something one way, but once you analyze it and see it for what it really is, it might not appear as it once seemed.
10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
Our eye's and mind all have a different reality, reality is what you make of it.
The Allegory of the Cave represents how everyone can be exposed or experience the same thing, yet we may still all perceive it in a completely different way, based on our backgrounds and what we know and what we don't know.
2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The shackles, the fire, and the array shadows on the cave wall are the key elements in the imagery used.
3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
The allegory shows how people are learning something new, and you can't just have an idea or a thought put into your head, we all have the capability to learn, and learn in our own way.
4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and the cave represent how sometimes we feel limited to how much we can learn, not allowing the prisoners to expand their knowledge.
5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
Pressure from others, or the fear of the unknown are my shackles, because I know there's so much more to life, I just don't know what it takes to get there.
6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
The freed prisoner was amazed by this world he never knew existed, and when he tried to share the excitement with his fellow prisoners, he was nothing but another shadow on the wall.
7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
Once the prisoner is exposed to the real world, and realizes how how big life is compared to life in the cave.
8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
The prisoner is free once the realize that there is more to life beyond the cave. They have to leave the comfort zone, and enlighten themselves.
9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
There is definitely a distinction between appearances and reality, because you can see something one way, but once you analyze it and see it for what it really is, it might not appear as it once seemed.
10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
Our eye's and mind all have a different reality, reality is what you make of it.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
To Be or Not To Be...finally!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
A Poetic Inquiry
Going back to my big question, I started thinking of all the other questions that never left my mind. For some reason I felt kind of guilty in a way to change my big question, like I was abandoning it, then I realized that nothing should just be limited to one question. Soy new big question is, why can't the world change?
Now that that's was finished, finding a sonnet to math my big question wasn't really my cup of tea! Reading the sonnets it was hard to keep up and understand them, but after reading a few things started to clear up. I found the sonnet Transfigured Life, and I don't know if it was the title, or the stanzas, but this sonnet made sense to me. I actually felt accomplished that I was able to piece together the sonnet and make connections to my big question.
Now that that's was finished, finding a sonnet to math my big question wasn't really my cup of tea! Reading the sonnets it was hard to keep up and understand them, but after reading a few things started to clear up. I found the sonnet Transfigured Life, and I don't know if it was the title, or the stanzas, but this sonnet made sense to me. I actually felt accomplished that I was able to piece together the sonnet and make connections to my big question.
Transfigured Life
I looked back on my Big Question from the beginning of the year, What can truly make me happy, and I feel the need to change it. The question on my mind now is, why can't the world change? Why does there have to be wars, death, poverty, sadness? Why can the world change for the better? Soooo I found this sonnet that I think connects to my big question, it's called Transfigured Life.
As growth of form or momentary glance
In a child's features will recall to mind
The father's with the mother's face combin'd,--
Sweet interchange that memories still enhance:
And yet, as childhood's years and youth's advance,
The gradual mouldings leave one stamp behind,
Till in the blended likeness now we find
A separate man's or woman's countenance:--
So in the Song, the singer's Joy and Pain,
Its very parents, evermore expand
To bid the passion's fullgrown birth remain,
By Art's transfiguring essence subtly spann'd;
And from that song-cloud shaped as a man's hand
There comes the sound as of abundant rain.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Tools That Change the Way We Think
How does use of the Internet, media, and/or technology change the way you think? Focus on your memory, your ability to concentrate, your sense of time and priorities, and the subjects/topics that interest you most.
Before I knew anything about open source learning, and being in Dr. Preston's class I felt like going on the Internet meant I was cheating, or cutting corners. I had the idea that if I needed to research something then I should be taking the time to read about it on my own or ask my teachers about it, not just Google it and find the quickest answer. However, despite of how my patients had crunched down, the internet has made everything so much faster and easier! It gives me thousands of perspectives, ideas, examples from minds all over the world with just one click. The technology in our generation is unbelievable! Its amazing how something in the palm of my hand can hold all my important information, pictures, music, banking, stocks, and contacts. I guess some would say technology has made people more lazy because we can do what ever need at home, where as before we would have to to wait or go across town to check our saving account, or buy tickets to the Dodger Game. Nonetheless, I would say technology and internet has helped me realize that there's not only one answer to every questoin, and it has helped millions of people connect to each other everyday.
Before I knew anything about open source learning, and being in Dr. Preston's class I felt like going on the Internet meant I was cheating, or cutting corners. I had the idea that if I needed to research something then I should be taking the time to read about it on my own or ask my teachers about it, not just Google it and find the quickest answer. However, despite of how my patients had crunched down, the internet has made everything so much faster and easier! It gives me thousands of perspectives, ideas, examples from minds all over the world with just one click. The technology in our generation is unbelievable! Its amazing how something in the palm of my hand can hold all my important information, pictures, music, banking, stocks, and contacts. I guess some would say technology has made people more lazy because we can do what ever need at home, where as before we would have to to wait or go across town to check our saving account, or buy tickets to the Dodger Game. Nonetheless, I would say technology and internet has helped me realize that there's not only one answer to every questoin, and it has helped millions of people connect to each other everyday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)