Ewrt 2 class 16 p lato

EWRT 2

CLASS 16

Discussion: Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"

Bio

Rhetorical Strategies

Questions for Critical Reading

Introduce Essay #4: Privilege and Perspective

AGENDA

WHO WAS

PLATO?

• Plato was born around the year 428 BCE in Athens. Plato's birth name was Aristocles, and he gained the nickname Platon, meaning broad, because of his broad build. His family had a history in politics, and Plato was destined to a life in keeping with this history.

A Brief Biography

When Plato met Socrates, he had met his

definitive teacher. As Socrates’s disciple,

Plato adopted his philosophy and style of

debate, and directed his studies toward

the question of virtue and the formation

of a noble character.

Plato was in military service from 409

BC to 404 BC. When the

Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC

he joined the Athenian oligarchy of

the Thirty Tyrants, one of whose

leaders was his uncle Charmides. The

violence of this group quickly

prompted Plato to leave it. In 403 BC,

when democracy was restored in

Athens, he had hopes of pursuing his

original goal of a political career.

Socrates’s execution in 399 BC had a

profound effect on Plato, and was

perhaps the final event that would

convince him to leave Athenian

politics forever.

After 399 BC Plato began to write extensively. The order in which he wrote his

major texts is also uncertain. However, most scholars agree to divide Plato's

major work into three distinct groups. The first of these is known as the

Socratic Dialogues because of how close he stays to Socrates’s

teachings.

The period from 387 to 361 BC is often called Plato's "middle" or

transitional period. The major difference between these texts and his earlier

works is that he begins to establish his own voice in philosophy. Plato's most

influential work, The Republic, is also a part of his middle dialogues.

The Republic covers almost every aspect of Plato's thought. Book VII of The

Republic is “The Allegory of the Cave.”

Plato founded a school of learning which he called the Academy.

Plato's school is often described at the first European university. Its

curriculum offered subjects including

astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory, and philosophy.

Plato hoped the Academy would provide a place where thinkers could

work toward better government in the Grecian cities. He would

preside over the Academy until his death.

It was around 365 BC

when Plato's famous

pupil Aristotle began to

study at the Academy. In

347 Plato died, leaving

the Academy to his

sister's son Speusippus.

The Academy remained a

model for institutions of

higher learning until it

was closed, in 529 CE, by

the Emperor Justinian.

A GROUP PROJECT

Together, draw a picture of Plato’s Cave.

Label the significant aspects of the cave.

Make it fit for overhead projection

See pages 445-46

THE TASK

1. Describe how the people in the cave are

situated in Plato's parable. Why can't they

move their legs or necks to take a look around?

What is the only thing they are capable of

seeing? What is their only source of light?

2. What do these prisoners trapped in the cave

believe is real?

3. How does the prisoner react when he first sees

sunlight? Why?

The Allegory

4. What are the stages of the liberated

prisoner's experience outside the

cave?

5. What is the response of the

prisoners to the news of the man

who has escaped about the world

outside? Why?

6. Compare the perspective of the

freed prisoner with the cave

prisoners.

IN GROUPS, DISCUSS

“THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE”

FROM

PLATO’S REPUBLIC

CONSIDER HIS RHETORICAL

STRATEGIES, THE ALLEGORY ITSELF,

AND THE “QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL

READING” (PAGES 453-54)

WHICH RHETORICAL STRATEGIES DOES

PLATO USE?

Allegory: a story in which the characters and situations actually represent people and characters in another context.

Dialogue: Asking questions that require simple answers. Slowly, the questioning proceeds to elucidate the answers to complex issues.

Clarity

Simplicity

Directness

Rhetorical Strategies

Questions for Critical

Reading

QUESTIONS

What is the

relationship between

Socrates and

Glaucon? Are they

equal in intellectual

authority? Are the

concerned with the

same issues?

How does the allegory

of the prisoners in the

cave watching

shadows on a wall

relate to us today?

What shadows do we

see, and how do they

distort our sense of

what is real?

Are we prisoners in

the same sense that

Plato’s characters

are?

If Plato is right that

the material world is

an illusion, how

would too great a

reliance on

materialism affect

ethical decisions?

QUESTIONS

What ethical

questions are

raised by

Plato’s

Allegory?

In paragraph 49, Plato

states that the virtue of

wisdom “contains a

divine element.” What is

a divine element? What

does this statement seem

to mean? Do you agree

with Plato?

QUESTIONS

What distinction does Plato make between the public and the private? Would you make the same distinctions (see paras. 53-55)?

What does Plato’s

allegory of the cave

tell us about how we

recognize the world?

QUESTIONS

According to the

allegory, how do cave

prisoners get free?

What does this suggest

about intellectual

freedom?

What does the allegory

suggests about the

process of

enlightenment or

education?

QUESTIONS

According to The Allegory of the

Cave, what is the main task of the

philosopher?

Who are the “guardians” or

philosopher-kings?

Why should philosopher-kings

rule? Do you agree?

ESSAY #4: CLASS 19

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 26

You will respond to one of several prompts provided.

There will be prompts addressing each Plato and Woolf.

Your essay will be between 500 and 750 words. The

number of pages will depend on your handwriting!

You will have two hours to write.

Please bring a clean, large Blue Book:

(Approx. 8x10). You can buy them at the bookstore.

You may write with either a number 2 pencil (dark lead)

or blue or black pen.

Ways to Proceed

Come to class for the discussions

Participate in, listen to, and think about our class discussions

Read the two essays

Reread the two essays—make notes about your thoughts

Review the “Suggestions for Writing” sections at the end of each essay.

Buy your Blue Book

Bring an appropriate writing utensil

HOMEWORK

• Read A World of Ideas:

• Virginia Woolf "Shakespeare’s

Sister" (761-776) )

• Post #30 Questions (TBD) for

Critical Reading: (page 776)

• Post #31 QHQ Woolf or Plato