Philosophies Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Plato’s allegory of the cave began with a description of a dark scene which included a group of individuals who lived in that cave since birth and knew nothing of the outside world. These individuals were confined and restricted to the point where they could not turn to their sides or look to see what was behind them, but could only look forward. There was no natural light seeping in, the walls were damp and dark, and all these individuals could picture or see came from shadows that were thrown on the wall by the light of a fire, a fire which was behind them, and behind that fire was a partial wall. On top of the partial wall were different statues that were controlled “puppeteers” who were not visible and resided beyond the partial wall.
The goal of these three philosophers was that thinking critically garnered a new mode of thinking which resulted in a changed life for the better. Socrates encouraged individuals to live an examined life, which may be difficult when living in a world and being surrounded by a culture that does not normally examine themselves or their lives. For example, in the Apology, Socrates drew an analogy between himself and a gadfly. He, the gadfly, would bite the idle horse which was Athens, and arouse it into action and out of sleep. Socrates could be compared to a gadfly both because he startled individuals into observant self-examination of one's own behavior and motivations and because the majority of individuals were too comfortable with where they were to even welcome this type of inner searching. In today’s society, most individuals would rather wallow in ignorance than take time to contemplate their mistakes because it’s the easier route to take, and likewise, the people of Athens chose to kill Socrates rather than acknowledge the invitation of self-examination he presented to them. Postman urges individuals to live a life where WE are in control of the technology we use and not the other way around. Postman discusses that in the midst of using technology, we, in fact, are being used by technology, and is trying to get his readers to understand that the fact that humans don’t realize the power that technology has on society as a whole is causing them to become immersed in a world that is amusing themselves to death. One of Postman’s main points was how television has changed the way people THINK reality should be. From a young age, most individuals are taught what they know through a screen, and thus their minds are in “the cave”. Postman wants to point out that by