Saturday, September 7, 2013
Thoughts on the Allegory of the Cave
Those of you who were in class Friday already heard me say this, but my first thought is that Glaucon is really annoying. Basically the only thing he did was confirm whatever Socrates said, and the one time he says something other than yes, Socrates just tells him he is wrong then continues as he might have if Glaucus had said yes again; I just feel like the same message could have been conveyed if Plato had Socrates talking to himself rather than Glaucon. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading the allegory. It is pretty different from anything I have read before, and the fact that it was the first time I had ever read anything by Plato is also pretty exciting. Other than maybe Grendel, I can't say I've read anything so overtly philosophical before, therefore I'm kind of interested to talk about it on Monday.
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2 comments:
I found Glaucon annoying as well! His repetitive "yes's" were so unnecessary. I feel a rhetorical soliloquy would have sufficed.
Maybe Glaucon symbolizes something? I'm not sure. At first glance he seems insignificant but maybe he's part of a larger picture that we haven't discussed yet. Or maybe I'm going to far out on a limb here. Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a very graphic allegory and I find it pretty simple too. I think the reason I like it so much is because of it's simplicity. Or maybe I like it because I like the idea of "Philosopher Kings". A few enlightened people who are always right and tell the rest of a civilization what to do... Seems like it would work out well if the citizens didn't protest. It's a bit Big Brother Esc though if you think about it.
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