Plato

Before ReadingWhat does it mean to enlightened?Enlightened

What is an Allegory?Allegory Definition

1Plato427 347 B.C.Founded The Academy in Athens (387 B.C. until A.D. 529) in response to Socrates Execution in 399 B.C.School Dedicated to the Socratic Search for Wisdom

Acropolis, Athens

Acropolis, Athens

Acropolis, Athens

Acropolis, Athens

What do you think?What is Plato saying in this Allegory of the Cave?What is his Philosophy?Do we see his ideas in our own culture today?7Platos WritingsSocrates the main speaker in the form of dialoguesThe Republic On the Nature of JusticeUtopia blueprintThe Education of a Philosopher-KingPlatos Allegory of the CaveIn theAllegory of the Cave, Plato described symbolically the predicament in which mankind finds itself and proposes a way of salvation. TheAllegorypresents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: Platos PhilosophyThe world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually; Platos PhilosophyKnowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves; Platos PhilosophyFaith that the universe ultimately is good;Enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society;A good society must be one in which the truly wise (the Philosopher-King) are the rulers.