Allegory of the Cave

Today in class we watched the cartoon version of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The video was about these four men who were chained up and all they could see was what was in front of them. Then, one of the men was unchained and what able to explore outside and see what life was really like. When that man came back and tried to explain, all the other men made fun of him and rejected him. After the video was over we discussed what we thought the video meant. Karson said she thought it represented close-minded people and Steven had agreed. However, Mr. Schick brought up a good point. Plato was the student of Socrates, so therefore the video was most likely about him. Socrates represented the man who was able to explore and learn things about the world that other people did not see, but ultimately he was punished for trying to share his knowledge with others. He was accused to corrupting the youth of Athens and disrespecting the gods, and was therefore sentenced to drinking poison hemlock. However, we also discussed that this could have also represented people today. We sit in front of the T.V. and believe what it says because that it what we know. But, we need to go and explore and find the real truth because Socrates is right, "The unexamined life is not worth living."