Essay Symposium Cave Allegory - 739 Words

Starting at 210a of The Symposium, Diotima speaks with Socrates about reaching the final vision of the mysteries. She starts talking about a young boy who is starting to be attracted to beautiful bodies. He first loves one body; and then, realizing that all bodies are relatively alike, he begins to love all beautiful bodies. After that, he comes to appreciate the beauty of minds, not caring anymore about physical attraction. After all stages, the boy will ultimately come to loving beauty itself and all beautiful things. This gradual climb to the final vision is similar to the climb out of the cave in Platos Allegory of the Cave. In the Allegory of the Cave, the chained down prisoners are limited with their perception on reality. At†¦show more content†¦Similar to The Symposium, the cave allegory also has a reference to a Form. At the last stage of the prisoners climb to the top of the cave, he sees the sun and observes the Form of Good. Since he was recently unaware of the F orm of Good, he has reached a higher understanding, just like the boy from The Symposium. These two pieces written by Plato also have two characters, Socrates and the prisoners, who are similar. After returning to the cave, the prisoner would be reentering a world of darkness, having to talk to all the unreleased prisoners. He would live with the other prisoners, being able to see better than all of the rest. Because of his different perspective of reality and new knowledge, he would assume the position of the leader of the group and take care of the prisoners. Socrates does this exact thing in The Symposium. He seems to be the most enlightened one in the group and appears to be the puppet by which Plato speaks about his own views. Alcibiades speaks about how he looked up to and loved Socrates during his speech starting at 212c. Socrates acts as the mentor and leader in The Symposium, just as a prisoner would be if he were to leave the cave and become enlightened. Although there are many dissimilarities in these two pieces written by Plato, there are lots of similarities. It is very surprising to see as many parallels between the two works, even though they have the same author. To start, Diotimas speech had theShow MoreRelatedTheory of Ideas1002 Words   |  5 Pageshistory of Philosophy. Throughout his life, he had made many contributions to the world of philosophy, but the most important contribution that he is most known for is his theory of the Ideas or Forms. Throughout his many works such as the Phaedo and Symposium, he presented his theory of Ideas by using both mythos and logos in his argument for support. In the Phaedo, Plato introduced the theory of Ideas which centered on the problem of immortality of the soul, which suggested that true cannot be findingRead MoreAnalysis Of The Republic By Plato1111 Words   |  5 Pagestranscend into truth, but Socrates does not describe the progressions involved. In succession, arrives the subsequent and conclusive metaphor Plato generates as an armory for his discussion on goodness. This metaphor is referred to as The Allegory of the Cave and works to propagate a vivid vision of life according to the value of goodness, knowledge, and truth. Plato has one imagine an existence of limitation. Accordingly forcing one to view the methods of limitation prominent in their current circumstancesRead More Researching Socratic Pedagogy and Education in Platos Republic4973 Words   |  20 Pagesasks, What is education?, few argue that he is uninterested in the subject; after all, Plato, like Socrates, was a teacher. 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Context Plato founded the Academy at Athens after Socrates death and preserved the lessons that Socrates had taught, essentially laying a foundationRead MoreEssay on Socrates: One of the Greatest Minds the World Has Ever Known1269 Words   |  6 Pagesrace was quite ignorant. Realizing this ignorance was the beginning of wisdom, he believed, and allowed the serious student to eventually progress through stages toward the realization of perfect knowledge. This idea was put forth in Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’, where Socrates tells the tale designed to show people’s transformation from ignorance to enlightenment. â€Å"To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images† (Plato, Book VII, 515c). Socrates wasRead MoreEthics and Related Philosophies4468 Words   |  18 Pages he drew a clear line between human ignorance and ideal knowledge; on the other, Platos  Symposium  (Diotimas Speech) and  Republic  (Allegory of the Cave) describe a method for ascending to wisdom. In Platos  Theaetetus  (150a), Socrates compares himself to a true matchmaker (Ï€Ï ÃŽ ¿ÃŽ ¼ÃŽ ½ÃŽ ·ÃÆ'Ï„Î ¹ÃŽ ºÃÅ'Ï‚Â  promnestikà ³s), as distinguished from a panderer (Ï€Ï ÃŽ ¿Ã¡ ¾ °ÃŽ ³Ãâ€°ÃŽ ³ÃÅ'Ï‚Â  proagogos). This distinction is echoed in Xenophons  Symposium  (3.20), when Socrates jokes about his certainty of being able to make a fortune, if he choseRead MorePreparing for the Ultimate Trial Essay1967 Words   |  8 Pagesdiscusses his ideas of these two worlds in the Allegory of the cave. The prisoner is finally released from his shackles and let free into the world, †¦.his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, -- will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him? (Book 7 Republic 515d) This just shows that perception has no meaning, Life in the cave symbolises the material world, where theRead More Matthe w Arnold versus Aristotles Poetics Essay examples3833 Words   |  16 Pagessense almost unique in Greek philosophy and literature. I would also say that Aristotle in his life and writing is more like the typical Greek (if there ever can be a summary description of any people which is of course doubtful). Alcibiades, in the Symposium, said in praise of Socrates, that there was never anyone like him, and it was after I read this that I began to think that perhaps there were few in Greece like Plato either, and now I will tell you why I think this is the case. (3) AristotleRead More Exploring Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets Essay4114 Words   |  17 PagesIn Plato’s Symposium, the discussion on the nature of love between Socrates and his companions in the house of Agathon clearly discerns key ideas that Shakespeare uses in the sonnets. Beauty, youth, and love are all topics of discussion in the conversations, and Plato’s ideas show up again and again when the sonnets are explored. In Symposium, Aristophanes gives a detailed description of a time when humans were not in their present physical form (Plato 353). His tale posits that the original formRead MoreRational Thought and Technological Advancement Essay2173 Words   |  9 Pagesit. It is debatable whether Socrates believed humans (as opposed to gods like Apollo) could actually become wise. On the one hand, he drew a clear line between human ignorance and ideal knowledge; on the other, Platos Symposium (Diotimas Speech) and Republic (Allegory of the Cave) describe a m ethod for ascending to wisdom. His beliefs and questions angered many of his peers so much, that they convicted him of corrupting society and sentenced him to death. Plato was Socrates student and â€Å"he displays