Plato Myth of the Cave free essay sample

This paper will describe the learning experience of my interviewees while translating what The Myth of the Cave by Plato means to them. Further, it will discuss the similarities and differences between the responses received from my interviewees based on my discussion of The Myth of the Cave by Plato as read in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. For this paper, I interviewed a group of my peers at work. My company Bombardier makes trains and planes. I was a Senior Project Administrator for a project at New Jersey Transit where thirty-six (36) dual electrical/diesel locomotives were implemented to their train fleet. I recently was promoted and moved to Fayetteville, GA. My former work unit consisted of seven (7) people. The members of this group came from different countries and I was the only American in this work unit. I felt that based on the cultural and educational differences of the interviewees involved, I would receive unique responses to the question: What is the meaning of Plato’s Myth of the Cave? I chose the five (5) engineers in our group for this paper. The interview began as a group where I described The Myth of the Cave by Plato based on my reading in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. I described the story as follows: There are a group of men, prisoners, their hands and legs are shackled by chains. Moreover, the movement of their head and face is also restricted, so that they can see nothing but the wall in front of them. This restricted movement limits their visibility to the wall, thus circumscribing the scope of any encounter beyond it. There is an enormous fire on the ground, and between the wall and the fire is a walkway meant for objects to pass. The shadows of these objects fall directly on the wall providing the sole view for the prisoners. The only way for the prisoners to get acquainted with their surroundings is to decipher the shadows and consider them to be a part of the real world. They start naming each and every object, and amongst all the prisoners, the intellect of an individual is governed by his ability to judge those objects. Later, one prisoner is freed of the shackles and gets to see the outside world. What he encounters is beyond his comprehension. He is accustomed to dim light, and the light of the sun hurt his eyes. But slowly he would get accustomed to the existence of the new world and discover true reality and the beauty of Mother Nature. When the prisoner returns to the cave to share the news of the truth he has just discovered, he tries to persuade his companions that there is a â€Å"real† outside world, and what all has been seen by them are mere shadows of the real objects. But the other prisoners resist his enlightenment and condemn him. In addition, we watched a You Tube video with an animated version of The Myth of the Cave by Plato to give my interviewees a visual interpretation as well as verbal description of the story. Once my story and video were completed, we discussed the meaning of the myth of cave as a team and debated about the moral of the story. After, I asked my interviewees to write down their personal thoughts of the story for individual discussion. My first interviewee is named Graziella Spizzi. She is twenty-eight (28) years old from Zurich, Switzerland. She is an Electrical Engineer at my company. She feels the myth of the cave is a symbolic way of showing how people are enlightened. She states that there are two main characters, those making the shadows and the prisoners. The people casting the shadows are trying to pass on what their ancestors taught them. The same shadows were once cast to them. The prisoners are chained in chains that represent conformity. She believes as the prisoners learn the shadows and the order in which they go in the chains are loosened. When a prisoner is able to recite the shadows in the order in which they appear they are released in order to share that same information with future generations(G. Spizzi, personal communication, May 25, 2011). My second interviewee is Markus Schaefer. He is forty-three (43) years old from Niedermollrich, Hessen, Germany. He is a Mechanical Engineer at our company. He believes it describes our fear of exploring outside our safety zone. We get locked and chained by our own fear. Markus stated that in psychology there is a process called subception whereby we disallow any incoming data at the source so that it doesn’t ever enter the conscious mind. In his example he stated that some people need the safety of believing that they can only rely on themselves so much so that they do not see when other people needing charity (M. Schaefer, personal communication, May 25, 2011). My third interviewee is Ennio Luchessa. He is forty-five (45) years old born in Zurich, Switzerland but raised in Northern Italy. He is a Technical Engineer at our company. He states the myth of the cave expresses how the prisoners in the dark cave were ignorant people and if brought into the light outside became informed individuals. Ennio feels that humans in general are trapped into they own world, not allowing outside influences that may enrich them to come in. He feels we have a duty to experience everything that the world has to offer and if possible afford this opportunity to others (E. Luchessa, personal communication, May 25, 2011). My fourth interviewee is Hector Martinez-Cabanes. He is twenty-six (26) years old from Villaviciosa de Odon, Madrid, Spain. He is an Electrical/Mechanical Engineer at our company. He also feels the meaning of the myth of cave was the prisoners in the dark cave represented ignorance in society in general. Hector believes that once the prisoners are brought into the â€Å"light† from the dark they are freed from their preconceived beliefs and can realize the world for what it really is and then choose what is better for them (H. Martinez-Cabanes, personal communication, May 25, 2011). My fifth interviewee is Volker Goltz. He is forty-one (41) years old from Kassel, Germany. He is a Technical Engineer at our company. He states that Plato was conveying that the real world can be correctly apprehended only intellectually, not physically. Volker furthers his claims by asserting that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student through memorization-driven education and Plato’s belief of discovery-guided learning gives students the best possible advantage to discover the world for themselves and formulate what is true, real and important (V. Goltz, personal communication, May 25, 2011). All the interviewees agreed that the myth of the cave was about enlightenment. The differences it their responses occur with how the enlightenment may come about. Most responses convey that one must experience something and not only judge something from the way it looks or what they have heard. One must first live in someones shoes before they are able to feel what they feel and understand how they live. Most importantly, never judge something by its cover and from the outside. For me, at first I agreed most with Hector’s response to the meaning of the myth of the cave. My decision changed once I thoroughly reviewed the interview with Volker. His response to the meaning of the myth of the cave that the real world can be correctly apprehended only intellectually especially through discovery-guided learning seemed logical to me. My decision is based on children, when they are young they believe what they are told by adults never questioning. As the child grows they begin to learn and experience things about the world that may differ from what they have been taught. As teenagers, most rebel against their parents for the chance to discovery the world for themselves, not as the world has been interpreted to them. As young adults and into adulthood, they are able to have their own opinions and formulate what is true, real, and important. Further, most of these opinions are commingled with the things taught to them in youth, which during their life journey have been proven to be true. Overall, the group believed that most people prefer to remain in chains and to see only shadows of the truth. Only the wise are willing to free themselves from the chains and look for the truth even if it is blinding at first. I believe through discovery-guided learning versus memory-driven education beginning in kindergarten will help develop more informed, open-minded, and outside the box thinkers in the future.