In our world, we encounter different people every day, per our judgement we differentiate them and place them into categories as bad or as good people. We judge people as per our judgements, I may judge somebody as a bad person, but someone else may judge that same person as a good person. This shows that people have different ways of thinking, and judging bad and good varies between different individuals. During this essay, we will compare and contrast Socrates ' attitude about philosophy (Apology and Allegory of the Cave Readings) with the Good Brahmin 's (Voltaire) attitude. Both stories are very important while studying philosophy, as they show how is philosophy applied in life.
Through the Apology and the Allegory of the Cave Readings
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The story of the Good Brahmin illustrates that knowledge takes away happiness and the more knowledge somebody has the unhappier he or she is (Good Brahmin, n.d). The idea behind this reasoning is that the more people becomes aware about the things going around them the more they lose happiness (Good Brahmin, n.d). The reason behind this is that the world is filled up with evil and there are a lot of injustice around us and the more we become aware of them the unhappier we get (Good Brahmin, n.d). When people are unaware about those evilness and injustices they live happily (Good Brahmin, n.d). The story suggests that to acquire knowledge one should lose his or her innocence, for instance, we must question everything that we have learned since childhood to acquire further knowledge (Good Brahmin, n.d). A lot of things that we are taught when we were children were not true as we grow up and achieve knowledge we come to know the truth (Good Brahmin, n.d). In that way, we seek enlightenment, and that is what philosophy is about. By acquiring knowledge, a person becomes more responsible and knows what he is doing and hence becomes a responsible person. As for Voltaire, the best way to achieve happiness is to follow your heart.
Both Voltaire and Socrates agree upon the fact that knowledge brings wisdom and success. But Voltaire suggested that knowledge brings unhappiness, whereas Socrates thinks that knowledge is everything and that knowledge is the key to everything. As for me my view about philosophy is that knowledge is important if it is true knowledge. Philosophy is fascinating as there is only a certain much that we know about things that it is hard to what is true and what is
Throughout the last five weeks, I have read three of Plato’s dialogues: the cave allegory, Euthyphro, and the Apology. While reading them, I was able to see Plato’s view of a philosophical life. To live philosophically is to question appearances and look at an issue/object from a new perspective. In this essay, I will explain Plato’s cave allegory, Socrates’ discussion with Euthyphro, and the oracle story in the Apology.
For the individuals who are searching for a tasteful meaning of devotion, the discourse is a failure, for no conclusion has been come to concerning the exact idea of that goodness. It has now and again been kept up that the genuine motivation behind logic isn't to answer addresses yet rather scrutinize the appropriate responses that have been given. Anyways, this is precisely what Socrates has been doing in this back and forth. Euthyphro has displayed a few speedy and prepared responses to the inquiry "What is devotion?" however upon magnification, each of these questions has appeared to be unsuitable.
“The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, and A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt all have in common a person that is challenged by a group of people on their beliefs, ideas, as well as knowledge. In “The Allegory of the Cave”, one person is challenged based on his knowledge about the world outside the cave. Next, An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, Dr. Thomas Stockmann is challenged by the people of his town on his belies of the water being contaminated that later is proven to be true because he sends a sample to be tested. Lastly, A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, Thomas More is challenged by King Henry and his followers on his idea of divorce because he is dedicated to the Catholic Church which doesn’t approve of King Henry divorce. Furthermore, I believe Dr. Thomas Stockmann is a greater hero than Thomas More.
In my opinion in some situations knowing too much can ruin your happiness. According to The Dalai Lama intelligence can sometimes create a quite unhappy state of mind (p.84). Overall this essay is about people as individuals deciding to be good warm hearted people. The action of one person can create a better environment around them.
Enlightenment was a time of embracing logic and reasoning whilst rejecting untested beliefs and superstition. This time period occurred from the year 1694 until 1795. During this time writers used their medium of the written word to express their beliefs based on logic while denouncing old-world ideologies . During Enlightenment human nature was often put under scrutiny as thinkers strived to find what qualities resulted in the best possible human. In this piece of writing, the reader will be able to see the opinions of human nature held by three great thinkers from this time period: Voltaire, Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe.
First off, one rhetoric that " The Allegory of the Cave" has is a metaphor. A metaphor is comparing two unlike things. The focal thought is, a few detainees were bolted into a give in and the couldn't escape. It speaks to that how much freedom is worth. In the event that you never had an opportunity to see the outside world, you just can envision what it resembles.
The allegory of the cave contains a very poignant message about learning and new experiences but it’s not real. It’s written as Socrates telling a story in order to illustrate his point. The first man is forcibly removed from the cave and shown the light, creating a painful experience. Douglass’ story is autobiographical and it shows a true need for knowledge in order to be free from the bondage of slavery.
Socrates is quoted as stating, “An unexamined life is a life not worth living” (38 a). Socrates was a founding figure of western philosophy, and a stable for many ideas. He lived in Athens, Greece teaching his students, like Plato, questioning politics, ethical choices, and many other things in Greek society. In the Trial and death of Socrates: Four Dialogues by Plato, it explores the abstract questioning Socrates had towards many of the normal social properties, which led to his trial, resulting in his death. The most important aspects discussed in the dialogues is the questioning of what is pious and impious, what it means to be wise, and good life.
Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society. The allegory of the cave is an understanding of what the true world is and how many people never see it because of their views of the society they are raised in.
There, we know that, according to Socrates and his successor Plato, the philosophy starts with the admitting of ignorance. Furthermore, one's biggest wisdom comes from knowing that he or she knows nothing. On the other hand, the attitude towards wisdom and happiness of Voltaire can be best found in his work Story of a Good Brahmin.
The world we live in is filled with crime, evil, and injustice, but do people have the desire to do bad things knowing that they are bad, or do they do them thinking that they are good? In this essay, I examine Socrates argument, found in Plato’s Meno, that no one knowingly desires bad things. If Socrates were right, it would mean that it is impossible for someone to perform a bad action based on their desire for that bad thing. Instead, all bad desires result from the ignorance of the person performing the action in falsely believing that the action is good. Though Socrates presents a compelling argument, I argue that it is possible for someone to act badly, all the while knowing that what they desire is bad.
In the beginning of book VI, Socrates makes a point by saying that philosophers have always been able to see things as they are versus people who see things as they vary and so he asks, who should rule? (484b) Socrates then launches into how philosophers are the ones who love the truth and want nothing and will not stand for anything, but the truth. (485c) It is because of that they should rule and so Socrates is asking for a philosopher-king who will seek nothing but the truth through knowledge and wisdom. This is the most important and boldest claim Plato makes in the defense of philosophy.
The Brahman is unsatisfied in his knowledge and although however hard he seeks, cannot find the enlightenment he desires. Additionally, the Brahman is perplexed in how a simpleton woman who does not seek truth or knowledge, rather relies on religious doctrine, is perfectly happy in her ignorance of things. The Brahman goes on to explain to Voltaire that even though he could simply be happy by not acquiring and striving for enlightenment, he does not wish this (Voltaire, . , Woolf, n.d.). Voltaire proposes this question to other Philosopher's and each reach the same understanding that once you enter into the world of reason, there appears no end in sight, but however that this struggle is still better than being blissfully
In the novel Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, a man named Siddhartha finds himself on his life journey to seek enlightenment. After many years, he has tried what seems to be everything and learned incredible lessons. His eyes are opened and he is able to see new light and perspectives in the ever changing world around him. Wisdom and Knowledge is an important theme in both the novel and in the real world because it is connected to how Siddhartha views enlightenment. In the real world, wisdom and knowledge are important because they’re both necessary to have in everyday life.
As Socrates discusses the cave-dwelling to his friend, He conceives of people living in a cave, with their “legs and necks fettered from childhood,” so that they remain in the same spot, able to look forward only, and prevented by the fetters from turning their heads” (514 B). They do not realize that behind them is a fire. Between them and the fire are fake animals and statues, reproductions in stone or wood carried by men that are cast in shadow form on the wall by the fire “like a screen at a puppet show in front of the performers who show their puppets above it” (514 B). They imagine one prisoner being freed from this cave-like existence and finding light in the real world. When the one prisoner adjusts to the light in “the real world”