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This responsibility -- using knowledge to actualize others, is a predominant theme in much of Plato's works that resonates directly with contemporary pedagogical theory.
The Allegory itself is written as a fictional dialog between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon. In the allegory of the cave, the reader, whom Plato assumes is also a philosopher on a path towards enlightenment, is treated to a play within a play. There is a dark cave, cavernous and damp. Individuals (prisoners) have been chained in this chasm since birth so that they are able to move in a way that they can only look at the wall in front of them; otherwise they are immobile. "Conceive them as having 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" (vii: 515). There is only dim light in the cave, a smoldering fire lit behind the prisoners. Behind the wall, though, there is a cloth screen that allows a pseudo-wall in which others can manipulate puppets that will cast shadows so the prisons can view these events (the only stimulation they have). Behind them, there is a fire, the only light in the cave. It...
Thus, for Plato, not only are the ideas that are placed upon the individual somewhat artificial (a shadow rather than a material object, form yet no substance), but they are an abjectly false reality in that they are manipulated by those still unenlightened. "Then, if this is true, our view of these matters must be this, that education is not in reality what some people proclaim it to be in their professions"(vii: 535)
For the student of Nietzsche, however, one of the issues that is immediately apparent for this concept is that of the translation. Ubermensch may be alternatively translated with connotations of excessiveness, intensity, transcendence, superiority, greed, or heightened leadership. Mensch refers to homo sapiens, a human being, as opposed to a specific character. Thus, when used as a noun the term means one thing, but as an
Lennie and George, in comparison, are out of work and desperate for any kind of decent job. They have little money, nowhere to call home, and as the story progresses, less and less chances for happiness. George and Lennie are experiencing the Great Depression first hand, and it is not a good time for them or the nation. Meursault is experiencing a relatively prosperous period, and could make it
It takes an encounter with madness to appreciate the finer things in life and through successful characterization, Kesey brings this issue to the forefront. The struggle between man and those wishing to control him is not new because it is intrinsically human to desire freedom. When we are caged, we rebel, even if that rebellion comes with a high price. McMurphy emerges triumphant because he demonstrates to the other
Mice and Men John Steinbeck's of Mice and Men: Loneliness, friendship, and the American Dream 'Living off of the fat of the land -- together.' From the first chapter of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men onward, there is foreshadowing of the tragedy that will eventually take the life of Lenny, the simple-minded protagonist of the short novel through Steinbeck's underlining the themes of loneliness, friendship, and the inability of the main
John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, the character of Curley's Wife is a tragic figure. Both flaws within her own character and the lack of opportunities and roles for women in the early 1930s in America play a role in her tragic fate. Of Mice and Men tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two illiterate men who travel together looking for work from ranch to ranch
Loneliness and Isolation in Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men John Steinbeck was a man who understood the plight of the common man, and had a particular ability to portray it within a piece of literature. As a child, he " became an avid reader, especially of the Bible, Milton's Paradise Lost,...his favorite work was Malory's Morte d'Arthur." (French) His favorite books not only helped him to gain a unique understanding of
Art Spiegelman's Father Vladek and Vladek's Words in Maus -- Volume I: My Father Bleeds History (and does not crave cheese) The Jews, both Polish and German, are mice, the Nazis take the guise of cats, and the gentile Poles play a subsidiary role in the Holocaust narrative of Maus as pigs. In Art Spiegelman's graphic novel depicting his generations' reaction to the World War II suffering of Jews and