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Example research essay topic: Allegory Of The Cave Gain Knowledge - 1,357 words

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No matter who you ask, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau or any other great philosopher they will always tell you that Plato was and always will be the greatest philosopher. Plato is known for great thoughts and feeling about the government and the way their social and political issues are handled. He used a very effective and intelligent way of writing his thoughts. He used a technique of exoteric and esoteric writing. The exoteric level being a level that everyone could understand and the esoteric level was only comprehended by the intelligent.

By doing this he protected himself from the government. He learned from Socrates whose life was ended when the government had enough of his ridicule and rebellions. Plato was much smarter and got his point across without the government ever knowing. For example, Plato s Allegory of the Cave from The Republic, which was a children s story about a cave, but it also had a esoteric meaning that was letting the intelligent know what the government was doing. Plato s technique has been effectively repeat many times and his messages apply to many of the current issues in today s society.

The exoteric level of the story, which comprehended by most, is about an underground cave which is pitch black except for a dim fire. There are some men bound by the neck and ankles, totally restricting movement, in the bottom of the cave. They have been faced towards the wall of the cave and all they can see is the flickering light from the fire behind them. Occasionally they can see the faint shadows of other men standing in front of the fire. The men can also hear their voices echo off the wall which they are facing. The sounds and visions that the men hear and see are both false, they are not the actual thing.

The echoes are reflecting off the wall as well as the shadows that they are seeing. One man finally breaks free and makes his way up the cave, it is a hard and long climb but he makes it out. Once he makes it completely out of the cave, he is blinded by the bright light of the sun. It takes him some time to accustom himself to the light, but once he does he looks into the water and sees his reflection.

After spending some time out of the cave he realizes that it is a better world on the outside of the cave. When he goes back into the cave to tell the others about the better world he is blinded again by the dark. He climbs down the cave again and tells the others about the great world that he experienced. The others are offended that he is questioning their intelligence so they kill him. I believe the exoteric moral of the story is that if one can t introspect themselves then they will never gain knowledge. This was the way that most people interpreted the story because they were not smart enough to see the other level that was much more meaningful.

The second level of the story is not so easy to comprehend and many of the people did not and still don t even know it exists. First of all the cave is symbol for the government and every country has a cave for a government. The government is keeping the society bound in their deep dark cave. They have their prisoners bound physically and mentally, by neck and ankles.

Society is forced to look into the wall and are not permitted to look back at what the government is doing. The government is really doing things without society knowing, but all society sees are the shadows of the governments actions. Today s society is very similar to the Greek society that Plato was referring to. All the things we see are false, but we believe them to be true. We think we see the light, but in reality all that the government lets us see is the flicker of the fire. The fire is a false source of light and the prisoners think that what they are seeing is the sun.

The point that Plato gets across is that the government wants to keep everyone in the dark. The darkness of the cave is a very important symbol, it symbolizes ignorance as opposed to the light which is the symbol for intelligence. Plato is trying to educate people and show them the light because just like the one man who escaped the cave and saw the light was killed by the ignorance of all the others in the cave, or society. Plato s view on the Greek government was not only very accurate during the third century, but it explains many things today. The press is a great example of The Allegory of the Cave.

The press creates a cave that society is in by trying to make society believe what they do. The press is known as the Fourth Estate because it is to keep the other three houses of government in check. The press is to report on what is currently happening to the people in society. In actuality, what happens is the press ends up trying to persuade society into believing what they want them to believe. They are very effective at this because they are so large and powerful. If an opposing opinion is expressed it is quickly criticized, ridiculed, and even sometimes humiliated.

For example in 1979, at the end of Jimmy Carter s term as President, a government report was released called Global 2000. This report made a claim that by the year 2000 the earth would be a disaster. The 1, 600 page book sold 1. 5 million copies and was translated into eight languages. The press took this book and spread it all over the place causing several other related books to be published, such as Limits to Growth and The Population Bomb. Global 2000, with the help of the press, was very costly, it consumed millions tax payers dollars. The report stated If present trends continue, the world will be more polluted, less stable ecologically, and more vulnerable to disruption than the world we live in north worlds people will be poorer the outlook for food and other necessities of life will be no better for most people on earth life will be more precarious in 2000.

Herman Kahn, founder of the Hudson Institute, and Julian Simon, professor at University of Illinois, published The Resourceful Earth, which argued and challenged every point of Global 2000. These two scholars can be related to the man that climbed out of the cave in Plato s story. They tried to share their knowledge with everyone and the press ripped them apart. Instead of accepting their opinion on the situation, they were deemed quirky and unrealistic Pollyannish. The press also stated that all that Kahn and Simon proved was the one thing that the world isn t running out of is imbeciles. The press had a certain belief and even if they had to exaggerate they would stick with it and eliminate any other opinions anyway possible.

The scholars questioned the intelligence and validity of writers and researchers and ended with the same results. This example was a left wing extreme, but there are these events on both sides of the coin. It is obvious that Kahn and Simon were right, as a matter of fact life on Earth has improved drastically since the 1970 s. Plato s philosophy was right seventeen centuries ago and still holds its value today. The moral of Allegory of the Cave is one can never gain knowledge unless one can introspect.

This has always been a problem in society because it is the main reason for ignorance. All through history there has always been ignorance and the government realizes that and keeps society in the dark. It may be a good thing to keep society in the dark because there are some people who could do some serious damage if they could climb out of cave and see the light.


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Research essay sample on Allegory Of The Cave Gain Knowledge

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