Perception in Philosophical Reasoning
In Plato’s, The Republic, he discusses The Allegory of the Cave or the Cerebral Mirage in Book 8. Plato’s Allegory of the cave unpacks how important knowledge really is through his theory. The theory of the Allegory of the Cave is a theory that involves human perception, and that perception is only accessible through philosophical reasoning. This theory should be thought of like this: Imagine a group of prisoners kept in a dark cave their whole life. There they are chained up so that they can only look ahead of them; they cannot move their heads or necks to turn around and see behind them. Behind the prisoners is a platform they cannot see which is backlit by a fire. The lighting allows for shadows to appear on the walls ahead of the prisoners. The prisoners would believe these shadows to be real, thought they are not. Now, if one prisoner were to free themselves and escape the Cave, they would come to learn that the shadows in the cave were not actually real after an initial shock. Of course, he would then try and enlighten the prisoners in the cave and tell them his new knowledge of the real world. The prisoners would simply not believe him because they strongly believe that their sense of reality is the truest version. Some prisoners would go as far as to threaten his life. Because of the chains allowing the prisoners to only see the shadows, they start to internalize them as being real and that perception becomes stronger and stronger over time. Socrates uses this rhetorical question to question the idea of reason and how there is more to thought than or instinctual feelings.
The videos referenced also discuss something from the present and applies it to the past. For example, Video 2 discusses our world compared to Plato’s. Our world is drastically different than that of Plato’s realm of the forms. Our world is constantly moving, changing, and evolving. Plato’s ultimate reality is everlasting. Our world is used to illuminate Plato’s realm of the forms. Another example of taking something from the present and applying it to the past is seen in Video 1. Video 1 discusses the Wizard of Oz movie compared to the shadows of Plato’s theory of The Allegory of the Cave. Plato’s theory suggests that the shadows became very real for the prisoners, and that the prisoners are trapped by this way of thinking about the shadows. The curtain in the movie Wizard of Oz is symbolic of this same concept, as it was used to persuade people into believing something false to hide reality.
Primary source: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.8.vii.html
Secondary Sources: https://youtu.be/lTHLptra6WA , https://youtu.be/lVDaSgyi3xE
