Thursday, November 29, 2012

Thinking Outside the Box

Plato and Sarte each described a place that can be considered hell. While Plato intended it more to be stuck in one place knowing only one thing without any education at all. Sarte made each charcter to have a corrupt sense of truth and what was realiable. They each showed the ignorance that people have. Although the characters from No Exit expirenced a sense or reality unlike the prisoners they each witnessed it different in the way they interpreted what they thought.This goes back to what Plato also conveyed is that we are stuck in our mindset and that even if we are led into the light we have to change  our mindset in order to contiue and not return to the cave. I believe both authors are right when diplsying their allegorys. Each has a differemt point of view. It is up to every reader to determine what point they will bring out of it. Each person will read and comprehend it differently but many will come out with the same sense.

No Exit

 
 
I think that hell can be a really place. Growing up and being involved in the Catholic church I have always been taugh to fear hell. In movies and shows where are shown a firey place that is a horrible place to be. I think hell is a place of mind that can be anything that you fear the most. My hell would be in room of spiders. Another persons can be in a room of snakes. I think it reallt depends on the person who is imagining it.
 
 
Satre uses detailed descpritions and its hard to imagine to be an area like that for a long time. I still think that it won't matter if you are confined to one area for so long as to what is in the room with you. There can be nothing in the room and that could drive you insane. The insantity will cause you to creat your own hell inside that space. 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Allegory of the Cave Sonnet

In the cave only shadows were envisioned
They were unaware there was light somewhere
The people in the cave were imprisoned
They had no sense of reality and what was fair
The prisoners in the cave were afraid of the unknown
They knew nothing about the outside reality
The shadows were the only things they were shown
They could not escape their own ignorant mentality
The freed prisoners were forgotten
They were able to find answers
To all the questions they had gotten
And live the life of a happy prancer
We cannot be a small fish in a big pond without any knowledge
But a small fish in a big pond with the education of college

Monday, November 19, 2012

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
The allegory of the cave talks about ignorance and enlightement and different paths. One path is to become a philosopher who is knowledgeable about the world around him. With the other is to be a prisoner who remains clueless excpet for the familar world around him.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The cave itself, prisoners, light/darkness, and the shadows.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
The process to enlightment or greater education can be hard. Being a prisoner or stuck in the school system you are always taught that someone is here to hold your hand and that you will be given a treat for something that you have done right. When are hands are let go we just want to stay in our comfort zone until we learn to step out of our cave and be accostumed to the light.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and cave could represent people who are stuck in a ceratin way fo life. Through this they become ignoarnt and once they are let go they can become lost.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
The shackles in my own life I feel can be parents. Parents tend to try to keep you in a small world that nothing bad will happen. As you grow older your parents tend to realize that they need to let go. Once we are given that freedom we have to choose whether to stay in the comfort of our parents or to continue your own journey.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
The freed prisoner is able to pick up a new sense of reality and learns to keep an open mind of what he did not know before. The cave prisoners have not had been freed so they are still kept close minded only knowing the shawdows on the walls.
7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
The prisoners what able to make of the shawdows on the wall so they did not really know what they are looking at. While this is happening another context could be that by not being to make clear of the reality around them they are not able to recieve an open mind and learn new things.

8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
The prisoners are lead out the outside world. This sugests that no matter where you are it is up to you where you find the knowldge that you want to gain. There is so much that can be learned.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
There is no distinction between appearance and reality becuase you are never really sure what you are looking at. You can look at something different than the person next to you. 

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
I think alternatives is our level of education and our minset. Dependind on our level of education we can see reality different that to a 6 year old. As a 17 I think of what college to go to and that is my reality at the moment while a 6 year old is passing the multplication table test. Also our mindset can determine what we wan to accept as reality and what we want to think is real.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Big Question

What came first the chicken or the egg?

Snow White Sonnet

The mirror never lies? How damned delicious!

The fairest one of all was little Snow...

Well, wicked witches knew how to be vicious,

this Snowy-Whitey rival had to go!

The axe man had instructions that he dreaded,

the Queen was quite specific: Kill her, dead!

He couldn't see this lovely girl beheaded,

so left her in the deepest woods, instead.



A bunch of miners found her in their chalet,

they let her stay to cook and wash and sew,

she acted like a kind of female valet,

and waited every evening for "Hi Ho."

They all lived happily amongst the pines,

what next occurred's another fourteen lines...



The mirror told the witch: "Snow White's still fairer!"

The Queen went into deep psychotic gloom,

then turned into a poisoned apple-bearer,

and headed for the forest on her broom.

One bite, and Snow White turned into a sleeper,

the dwarves came home and saw her on the ground,

they took a vote - decided they should keep her,

so locked her in their cabin, safe and sound.



Well, there was just one magic item missing,

to break the spell and foil the witch's plan,

she needed someone who was fond of kissing,

was tall, and dark, and handsome - and a man!

The Prince showed up, and answered true love's call,

they both lived happy ever, after all!




Vocab #11

Affinity- relationship by marriage
Bilious- of or indicative of a peevish ill nature disposition
Cognate- of the same nature
Corollary- A proposition inferred Immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof
Cul-de-sac - a pouch
Derring-do- a daring action
Divination- The art or practice that seeks to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge due to the interpretation of omens
Elixir- A substance capable of prolonging life indefinitely
Folderol- a useless accessory
Gamut- an entire range or series
Hoi polloi- the General populace
Ineffable- incapable of being expressed in words
Lucubration- to study by night
Mnemonic- intended to assist memory
Obloquy- abusive language
Parameter- an independent variable used to express the coordinates of variable point and functions of them
Pundit- a learned man
Risible- provoking laughter
Symptomatic- having the characteristics of a certain disease but arising of a different cause
Volte-face- a reversal in policy