Cave Match: Plato vs. Pooh
Spencer Wood
When I learned that we would read Plato in honors, I got excited because I wanted to read about his cave analogy. I already had an idea of what it was about, but nothing can truly compare to primary sources, in my opinion.
Part of what I knew about the cave was that I disagreed with the way people were brought out of it. nievity is too complex to be solved by force. Also, it just doesn't seem right to pull people, kicking and screaming, out of anything even if it is for the betterment of themselves. People should be able to learn at a pace that works for their schedule and learning proclivity. Even from a Christian viewpoint, we are called to be a light in the darkness, bringing Christ to the people. NOT going around to whoever we choose and dragging them into a church and saying "you are now knowledgeable of the wonder and love of God. K, bye." and then just hope that they go back to others at home, see their depravity, have pity and choose to bring them into the 'light' all before he, himself regresses back into the darkness he was born in. That doesn't work. Now what kind of person would I be to merely present the problem without a solution? So here's one. Rather than forcing people out of the cave, bring the light INTO the cave. Find a way to either traverse the cave or destroy the cave and have the light shine directly into the cave. Either way, you have brought the people to enlightenment without forcing them, and you have allowed them to come to their own understanding, true Socratic form as well as respectful to the state of the people you are trying to reach.
Now buckle up boys and girls, because this is where it gets fun.
Winnie the Pooh is an amalgam of all of western philosophy, and I have the book to prove it. Sadly, I'm only summarizing a snippet from the text as an example.
On Eeyore's birthday, Pooh went to go visit him (unaware of the significant day) and found out that Eeyore was in more than his usual gloom. After some comforting, pooh travels back home to find Eeyore the perfect gift. He finds a jar of honey (which he eats all of) and suggests that piglet brings him a balloon (which pops on the way to Eeyore's house). Now Eeyore was not upset at this at all, in fact, he was 'as happy as could be.' Now bear with me. The 'useful pot' is symbolism for Anaximander of Miletus' theory of the earth being a cylinder, and the balloon is a symbol of the spherical earth. The deflation of the balloon shows Eeyore's inability to understand the spherical earth theory. So pooh has eloquently brought the truth of spherical earth to the nieve mind of Eeyore who could only understand the cylindrical idea. And eeyore can now learn at his own pace and reach his own understanding rather than just a regurgitation.
kayla and moriah
When I learned that we would read Plato in honors, I got excited because I wanted to read about his cave analogy. I already had an idea of what it was about, but nothing can truly compare to primary sources, in my opinion.
Part of what I knew about the cave was that I disagreed with the way people were brought out of it. nievity is too complex to be solved by force. Also, it just doesn't seem right to pull people, kicking and screaming, out of anything even if it is for the betterment of themselves. People should be able to learn at a pace that works for their schedule and learning proclivity. Even from a Christian viewpoint, we are called to be a light in the darkness, bringing Christ to the people. NOT going around to whoever we choose and dragging them into a church and saying "you are now knowledgeable of the wonder and love of God. K, bye." and then just hope that they go back to others at home, see their depravity, have pity and choose to bring them into the 'light' all before he, himself regresses back into the darkness he was born in. That doesn't work. Now what kind of person would I be to merely present the problem without a solution? So here's one. Rather than forcing people out of the cave, bring the light INTO the cave. Find a way to either traverse the cave or destroy the cave and have the light shine directly into the cave. Either way, you have brought the people to enlightenment without forcing them, and you have allowed them to come to their own understanding, true Socratic form as well as respectful to the state of the people you are trying to reach.
Now buckle up boys and girls, because this is where it gets fun.
Winnie the Pooh is an amalgam of all of western philosophy, and I have the book to prove it. Sadly, I'm only summarizing a snippet from the text as an example.
On Eeyore's birthday, Pooh went to go visit him (unaware of the significant day) and found out that Eeyore was in more than his usual gloom. After some comforting, pooh travels back home to find Eeyore the perfect gift. He finds a jar of honey (which he eats all of) and suggests that piglet brings him a balloon (which pops on the way to Eeyore's house). Now Eeyore was not upset at this at all, in fact, he was 'as happy as could be.' Now bear with me. The 'useful pot' is symbolism for Anaximander of Miletus' theory of the earth being a cylinder, and the balloon is a symbol of the spherical earth. The deflation of the balloon shows Eeyore's inability to understand the spherical earth theory. So pooh has eloquently brought the truth of spherical earth to the nieve mind of Eeyore who could only understand the cylindrical idea. And eeyore can now learn at his own pace and reach his own understanding rather than just a regurgitation.
kayla and moriah
Comments
Post a Comment