The Examined Life- ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE

In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato presents an idea of philosophy as a realm of truth, which is distinguished from the world of shadows in the ‘cave’ of our everyday world. Using the knowledge you have gained about philosophy so far in this course, I want you to evaluate this image of philosophy provided by Plato. Your task will be twofold.

You must:

1) explain in your own words what the Allegory of the Cave is all about. In this part of your paper, you must explain the philosophical message of this passage, and show that you understand what Plato is doing with it.

2) say whether you think this is a persuasive view of what philosophy is, based on your experience in this course. You are encouraged to use the course material, as presented in the textbook, to illustrate your position.You are free to tackle this question in any way you wish, and to be as creative as you want to be in answering it. This task is designed to give you an opportunity to show you understand the course material, and that you can use it in developing your own position or point of view on an issue.

You must:

2) say whether you think this is a persuasive view of what philosophy is, based on your experience in this course. You are encouraged to use the course material, as presented in the textbook,( The Philosophical Journey: An Interactive Approach , Third Edition. William Lawhead, Editor (McGraw Hill, 2006) … to illustrate your position.You are free to tackle this question in any way you wish, and to be as creative as you want to be in answering it. This task is designed to give you an opportunity to show you understand the course material, and that you can use it in developing your own position or point of view on an issue.