Platos Allegory Of The Cave By Ralph Waldo Emerson

My theme for the signature essay is Nature. I will be using two texts from my Class, two text that truly caught my interest during this semester. The first one being Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the other one being Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson, two very outstanding writers of their time. Nature as stated is he phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations. The Allegory of the Cave written by famous philosopher Plato is about a gathering of people held in captivity. They have been detained there since young, their necks and legs bound so they cant swing to see themselves, each other, or whatever is left to†¦show more content†¦He winds up plainly satisfied with himself and recalls the other individuals in the cave. He gives pity and sympathy over the other cave detainees who are lost in darkness. He believes that it is smarter to be the slave in the real world as opposed to being the ruler inside the cave. The freed man doesn’t want to return to the cave, his eyes will not be able to do the same if he returns and he can’t count anything inside the cave. He begins to try and tell his friends inside the cave that the outside world is the real world and the cave is the unreal world but his friends are ignorant and respond by killing him. I believe with this text from Plato and a connection with Earth begins with the Sun/light without the sun the freed man wouldn’t be able to realize what he was surrounded by, he would still believe that he was in the â€Å"unreal world† without the sun. As Plato stated in the Republic â€Å"The sun proves not only the power of being seen for things seen† in the text the sun has given the human species the gift of seeing and being Enlightened, Plato with this text gave me a philosophical outlook on nature. I view nature in much more different light no w, I see everything within nature has been given a purpose for us to use. Trees of course give us oxygen but they also become the money we need toShow MoreRelatedEmerson’s Unifying Philosophy Essay1143 Words   |  5 Pagesattainment of truth. Historical figures such as Plato, Descartes, and Emerson sought answers to daunting questions of: ‘What is truth?’; ‘What is reality?’; ‘How is wisdom acquired?’ Many scholars believe these philosophers presented conflicting viewpoints: Plato encouraging skepticism among all previous historical, cultural, and personal perspectives; Descartes questioning definitions of reality and his very existence; Emerson encouraging self-trust and confidence in one’s ideals, opinions, andRead MorePlato s Apology And Ralph Waldo Emerson s On Self Reliance1559 Words   |  7 PagesThrough Plato’s Apology and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s â€Å"Self-Reliance† both contend that living an unex amined life is living a life of ignorance and futility. On the other hand, living an examined life is living an enlightened life full of intelligence. I agree with Plato and Emerson’s similar ideas that without knowledge, life as it is, is not worth living. They both argue that having personal beliefs creates an intelligent society. Having knowledge allows for one to set goals and objectives to achieveRead MoreEducation Is The Most Powerful Weapon1841 Words   |  8 Pagesenvironment should also not be very stressful; children will have more of that in the future. One way we can find out how educational institutions work today is by looking at literature. In particular, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave can be interpreted to be talking about the educational system. In this allegory, three prisoners sit staring a wall, in which they see shadows from puppeteers in the background. One day, one of the prisoners is freed and forced to go outside to the real world. At first everything