The main trait of human intellect is its curiosity, its questioning nature about itself, the perceived world and the other people for which a meaning is sought. From ancient times, this endeavor became known as philosophy. Over the course of time, many such philosophers came into being and enhanced our knowledge about the meaning of things, us and our life. In the next paragraphs will take a look to a couple of them which are considered today among the greatest philosophical minds of all times: Socrates and Voltaire. We will explore their view on philosophy through some examples: Apology and Alegory of the Cave Reading for Socrates and Good
Brahmin’s for Voltaire.
Socrates never wrote his thoughts as other great thinkers during his time. What
…show more content…
The Alegory of the Cave, although written by Plato and reflecting his style, is based on Socrates’ view about the truth and to reach to it.
In the Apology, Socrates answers to a couple of main accusations: corrupting the minds of the young people and promoting other deities than the “legal” ones in the city of Athens (resembling the blasphemer profile in the Christianity). In the Alegory, a group of people (prisoners) are bound to the space of a cave where there only source of light comes from some lightened fires.
These cave-confined people see only the projected shadows of those who briefly walk near the fire. Based on the shadows, they elaborate on what the world is beyond their immediate sight.
Everything they see is speculative, though based on directly observed facts.
Like these, the people (especially the young) wander in the world of thought thinking they got the truth, when they are in error, actually. One must acknowledge that it does not know anything in order to start gaining “true” knowledge. Socrates argues during this trial, paralleling the young with the cave dwellers and hence the need for proper intellectual education and exercise. And like the prisoner who escapes and goes outside the cave, returns and tells the other what
…show more content…
In the case of Voltaire, the Good Brahmin, tries to show the importance of the philosophical undertaking even when it seems to reach dead ends. We have to characters: a brahmin and an old woman. The brahmin (n.r. a Hindu priest) spent all his life searching for answers to the questions he found during his philosophical endeavor. He is “tormented” by the uselessness of his efforts because he still did not found the answers to his questions. Voltaire opposes him with his neighbor – an old and simple woman, lacking any education or intellectual refinement. This woman is not even capable of understanding various philosophical one can address to her. Her joy resides in fulfilling the rituals of her faith, without questioning them. The brahmin admits that the woman might have a point, but refutes one such life for him, considering that the search for answers to the great questions of life it’s still superior to a life without them, even when no outcome is there.
We observe that we must choose between the search for truth and the blind acceptance of a canon that regulates all that is to be known (the rituals). I tend to leave somewhere in between, questioning the world and myself and also participating in certain rituals just because the
Toronto Ultimate Club is located in Toronto, Ontario, and is an organization that focuses on growing the sport of Ultimate Frisbee by offering leagues in the Toronto area. Since the development of their strategic plan two years ago; memberships had stopped declining, but TUC’s general manager, was still not satisfied with the organizations growth.
Enlightenment thinkers, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Nicolas de Condorcet were influenced by teachings of the Scientific Revolution. Reason and logic were used to dissect what was good and valuable apart from what was tyrannical and unable to be proven from the old teachings of philosophers and religion. It was this process of reason and logic that gave these thinkers the confidence in man’s intelligence and potential to improve that showed up in their writings.
During the Age of Enlightenment philosophers were common, but perhaps one of the greatest was Voltaire. Voltaire was a French philosopher and writer who inspired many people during his time. He was an outspoken supporter of religious toleration and encouraged freedom of speech, which he conveyed in many of his literary works. Voltaire was a deist. A deist is someone who believes that God created the world, but does not interfere; he allows the natural laws to take care of everything. Along with other important philosophers Voltaire’s ideas influenced important people of the French and American Revolutions.
Journal 5: The Allegory of the Cave The Allegory of the Cave is a metaphor that Socrates came up with. It’s supposed to show the effects of enlightenment and education on humans. The metaphor starts with a group of people who have lived in a deep cave since they were born. They are bound so that they can only look straight ahead. However, due to the fire in the cave, and the statues on the walls, they are able to see shadows.
Voltaire was an Enlightenment thinker who used not only his ideas and beliefs, but other philosophers’ as well. The exile of Voltaire allowed him to acquire the knowledge of other’s ideas, ways of life, and government. Because these ideas were alien to him he felt obligated to either reject or accept them. Regardless of which he chose, Voltaire would always back up his opinions with the ideas of other Enlightenment thinkers. These agreements and criticisms were expressed in one of his most famous works, Candide.
Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own
2395 years ago Plato said, “Anyone who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light” (The Allegory of the Cave). Ever since, whether it be 2023 years ago or 9 years ago, Plato’s wise words still ring true. Enter Iron Age Greece, the Trojan war has finally come to an end and the victorious are more than ready to return home to their families with fame and fortune. Ready to see his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, the meritorious warrior Odysseus, the protagonist of Homer’s The Odyssey, sets out for Ithaca. Yet, his victorious adventure goes awry on his journey home and he must conquer 20 years of the gods’ wrath, vicious creatures, oddly hospitable hosts, and conniving suitors before he can finally have his peace. Flash forward and enter modern-day New York City, the home of Andrea “Andy” Sachs, Northwestern graduate, aspiring journalist, and a girl in much need of some fashion advice. Until, she gets a job at the most prestigious, couture magazine in New York, Runway. With the job comes Miranda Priestly, the Editor in Chief of Runway, and the creator of the impossible tasks and crazy requests, that require unwavering dedication from Andy. But, before she can achieve her dream, her life turns upside down and backwards, in the sinfully funny movie, The Devil Wears Prada. Although these two stories seem different, at the heart of both lies a
Unlike many other disciplines and ways of studying the world, the philosophical approach can vary from person to person and take many shapes, without restricting itself to one specific method at all time. That quality alone has given enormous freedom and variation to the work of many great philosophers, even on the subject of philosophy. To this end, we now turn our attention to Socrates and Voltaire, two of the great philosophers and their concerns and though on philosophy.
Considering the challenges that Socrates faced in his life for engaging in philosophy and the discontent that the Brahmin has for having not obtained a definitive understanding of the
At the beginning of Book Seven, in an attempt to better describe the education of the philosopher Socrates begins to set up an analogy with an ascent and descent into “the cave”. In Socrates’ cave analogy there was a group of people who were from childhood held in a dimly lit underground cave. The people were kept there in bonds that were designed to allow them to only what was in front of them by depriving them of the ability to turn their heads around. Also present in Socrates’ cave was a certain wall or partition separating the prisoners from another group of people who simply walked along a path carrying statues shaped after all that of beings and occasionally uttering sounds as the others remained quiet. The shadows of the statues
Humankind is filled with individuals testing each other and competing with one another to be the greatest, ignoring the reality of life. In the “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato justifies this by displaying a parable that serves as a metaphor for life. This parable teaches the reader how people wish to remain in their comfort zones and disregard the truth. It portrays the struggle of facing different realities that alter the illusion of one's life. In the story, he described a group of prisoners chained inside a dark cave; their only source of light comes from a burning fire that is used to create shadows. These shadows display images that the prisoners each interpret as the reality; however, once one is released and is struck by the light, he
One of the main purposes of the Enlightenment was to promote reason and rationalism as a way to improve society and politics. However, Voltaire, an influential and famous philosopher and writer during the period of the enlightenment, repeatedly criticized certain aspects of Enlightenment philosophy. In his short story, Candide, Voltaire somewhat harshly attacks the optimism that was so popular between philosophers during this time and instead he decides not to disregard the inescapable presence of the evil that is in nature and humans. In this piece of literature, the protagonist of the story, Candide, experiences extreme changes in his reason and maturity. By the end of Candide’s topographical and philosophical journey, it is evident that Voltaire wanted to emphasize that man’s purpose in the world is not just to simply think about what philosophy is. Instead, Voltaire stresses that man should be an active member of a society that is more realistic and that is better suited for him in his variation of beliefs inside a physical and psychological state.
The Constitution: Revise, Replace, Restore Amendments in the constitution are hard to pass in the USA. The president and three quarters of all state parliaments must vote in favor for the adjustment. Here are some important amendments: Protect freedom of speech, religion, the press and protesting. Right to keep’s and bears arms.
In his allegory of the cave, Plato describes a scenario in which chained-up prisoners in a cave understand the reality of their world by observing the shadows on a cave wall. Unable to turn around, what seems to be reality are but cast shadows of puppets meant to deceive the prisoners. In the allegory, a prisoner is released from his chains and allowed to leave the cave. On his way out, he sees the fire, he sees the puppets, and then he sees the sun. Blinded by the sunlight, he could only stare down to view the shadows cast onto the floor. He gradually looks up to see the reflections of objects and people in the water and then the objects and people themselves. Angered and aware of reality, the freed prisoner begins to understand illusion
Socrates is known in today’s world as one of the greatest philosophers in history. Born in 469 BC just outside of Athens, Socrates was properly brought up and thoroughly educated, he developed both physical and mental strengths. Socrates spent time with the philosopher Archelaus, where he studied astronomy, mathematics, and was introduced to philosophy. Archelaus taught with a scientific approach. Socrates turned from this approach and created his own. He decided instead of trying to understand the universe, he would try to understand himself. Socrates spent many days in the Athens marketplace where he became skilled in the art of arguing.