Describe Plato Allegory of the Cave Essay Example for Free

Describe Plato Allegory of the Cave Essay Describe Plato allegory of the cave (25 marks) Plato  is one of the most important Greek philosophers and a pupil of Socrates. He founded the Academy in Athens, an institution devoted to research and instruction in philosophy and the sciences. His works on philosophy, politics and mathematics which were very influential. The complex meanings that can be perceived from the Cave can be seen in the beginning with the presence of the prisoners who are chained in the darkness of the cave. The prisoners are bound to the floor and unable to turn their heads to see what goes on behind them. To the back of the prisoners, lie the puppeteers who are casting the shadows on the wall, which the prisoners are perceiving as reality. In the beginning of the  Allegory of the Cave  Plato represents man’s condition as being â€Å"chained in a cave,† in Plato’s allegory the prisoners are chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire all the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see. In platos allegory Plato believes the cave is the world the entire human race are prisoners of the world in the same way the cave represents the limits of their universe or knowledge The cave also represents misunderstanding and distraction, similarly Plato believes our body is a cave and inside the body is the soul ,and the soul is trapped inside the body in which humanity lost everything we required in the world of forms which was the true knowledge when we die the soul is released from our body. Another interpretation is when the prisoners are trapped inside the cave the prisoners represent humanity ,who don’t know what reality is, because they think reality is just what they can see (the shadows) which is really not reality at all it is mere representation of the truth The prisoners symbolize those of a sensible world unwilling to see or face reality. In their ignorance the prisoners hide away in the cave, unaware of the transcendent world These prisoners cannot move because they are restrained by chains. The only thing that they can see is a wall  To the prisoners the truth is only the wall and its shadows. The prisoners know nothing outside of the shadows at one point one of the prisoners are released he starts to see the objects of physical reality The released prisoner is a person confronted with the possibility of enlightenment who first sees the truth (the sun in the allegory) and is blinded by it. Another allegory in Platos story is The chains which hold humanity back from their own understanding these prisoners cannot move because they are restrained by chains the chains can be interpreted as a Fear of failure or   delaying something which are examples of the chains that hold back each individual from their full potential. In the allegory these chains keep the prisoners from escaping and finding the truth that is the outside world. The chains that restrain the prisoners, while real to the prisoners in the cave, are no more real than the shadows are. Another interpretation found in the allegory the cave is very dark because there is little light inside it and objects are hardly seen, The sunlight at the end of the path, would be specifically the form of good the allegory could also be about religious enlightenment, the Sun representing the light of the good, the Godly other world which the freed prisoner has surpassed to and was now able to see. The prisoner who was enlightened to religion is momentarily released from the ignorance and darkness of humanity the sun is a form of good, enlightened truth and the escaped prisoner who requires the knowledge and is obliged to return to the people in chains and enlighten them on what has been seen . Improve answer In the outer world there is light and everything is clear and visible the prisoner released from the cave into the outer world slowly and gradually begins to identify everything and becomes to realise that the outer world is the real and the cave is the unreal world likewise also Knowledge, education, and spiritual  enlightenment all symbolize the light. In Allegory of the Cave, light most commonly reflects revelation when prisoners, humanity, leave â€Å"the cave†. (unreal world) the darkness in the cave symbolically represents the world of ignorance The shadows are replicas or copies of reality. The echoes represent items in  life  that have been distorted over time due to gossip, impressions, and rumours   These shadows or teachings where blinding the prisoner from thinking outside of what was placed in front of them equally the prisoners interpret the shadows on the wall as being real who see reflections but instead are just poor shadows of images of things that exist in the outside world for example a tree is a poor reflection of a real things that exists. Above all Because of how we live, true reality is not obvious to most of us. However, we mistake what we see and hear for reality and truth his is the basic premise for Platos Allegory of the Cave, in which prisoners sit in a cave, chained down, watching images cast on the wall in front of them. They accept these views as reality and they are unable to grasp their overall situation: the cave and images are a trick a mere shadow presented to the prisoners.

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Revolutionary War Essay There were so many famous spies that were involved in the revolutionary war, and helped tremendously. The British and the Colonist had spies that did work against each side. Benjamin Franklin was not only an inventor he was also a spy he went to England multiple times and spied on parliament for the Colonist. His family was loyal to the crown so he could get in and out without being suspicious or raising any alarm. Nathan Hale was also a major spy who made a difference in the war. He only had one mission as a spy, because he was caught. His occupation was being a school teacher in England, while being the school teacher he would collect his notes on what he saw that would help the Colonist. As he was going to a meeting to give the information he wrote down to the Americans he was caught. He thought that the boat arriving was the Americans when really it was the British, and when they stopped for him they searched him. While searching him they found the papers with the inform ation he collected from spying and was arrested. He was then sentenced to hang the next day, and his tragic death would inspire the nation as he was more a martyr then a spy. Then we can’t forgot the most famous and traitorous British spy Benedict Arnold. Congress made Benedict Arnold angry, and he decided to trade secretly with the British. He was very helpful to the British, because he was close to Washington. His mailman was then found eventually with a letter to the British general, and was beheaded. Arnold then heard of his mailman’s death, so he fled to England and was awarded for his services. Men weren’t the only ones spying there were also women spies. There was a woman named Miss Jenny who was a British ... ...hen she would do her laundry if she left a white sheet up, then it meant there was a letter to be picked up. These spies used so many different codes and strategies that were very difficult to interpret, and kept them in the dark from the country they were spying on. Spies had to have amazing memorization skills, because of the codes. Types of coded writing were numbers that stood for different meanings like certain numbers would mean George Washington, fort, attack etc. The spies would also have silver containers that could be swallowed to keep the information from being found at blockades. That takes some serious dedication, because swallowing a silver container could be detrimental to their health. These spies went to extreme measures to not get caught, and if they were they would rarely break and give up the information and that takes determination.

How and why do political systems change? Essay

Political systems through the world have changed over the ages. A political system is a significant set of social institutions implemented among the people by the government. Political systems have a lot of functions. Political systems create resources for health, education, welfare, industry and foreign policy. Political systems have changed significantly over centuries and are still changing everyday. To understand why and how political systems change, there are many factors. Some major factors are development, government upheaval and the economy. A main factor and influence on why a political systems change is due to the countries social economy. There is always a positive relationship between economic development and equality or income. The Linearity theory states that economic development leads to urbanization which leads to communication which leads to high levels of education and in turn leads to Democracy. This theory does an excellent job in showing how economics lead to a change in political systems. Wealthier nations such as the United States, Japan and other European countries often have more reasonable income distributions than poorer countries. But countries like Russia had a poor distribution of social economy due to communism. The USSR was a communist country believing in state owned and centrally planned government. The communists were able to keep up with the other large capital powers of the world. But as time went on and they tried to catch up, their economy was too hard to control. Their products were poor quality and their quantity was created on a need basis. There was no efficiency. The people of Russia would have to wait years for cars, apartments and waited hours in lines for simple things like food and other basic necessities. The soviets began to argue with the government. In 1991, Russia had gone through the worst of it’s inflation and industrial problems. Eventually Russia became the Russian Federation and there was an end to Communism. Urbanization is another reason that political systems change and develop. People run out of resources on their rural lands and are forced to flee to the bigger cities. People go to the bigger cities hoping to find a better life for their families and themselves. As more people go these cities, it creates more jobs. Industry grows and the social economy also grows. Political systems begin to create governments that work on foreign policy and trade which creates more a more stable economy. Sooner or later the political systems shape their governments to model those of the other larger wealthier countries in the world. Another factor that changed many countries political systems is that of a revolutionary change. Two countries that were strongly influenced by the revolutionary alteration were Russia and Germany. After World War I, Russians believed the revolution lead to the collapse of imperialism. Russia was doing well before the war. Industry was still growing and the moral of the people was high. That did not last long though, the war changed everything. When the Russian military went to war against Germany, the tsarist government fell. As the tsarist government fell apart so did the Russian economy. The government found themselves trapped in a situation that they knew little about. Eventually a Russian revolution created a party with the help of Germany lead to the fall of imperialism and capitalism. Soon after Russia became a communist country. Revolutionary change is apparent when looking at China’s development as a government. China and Russia’s political change are similar in many ways. One of the biggest revolutionary movements in China was Maoism. Maoism was created by a person named Mao Zedong. Mao believed in strengthening and rebuilding China and by doing so, he and his followers believed in guerrilla warfare and in turn created a so-called revolution. Maoism believed that it was important to listen to the peasants and tried to propaganda to join his army. He believed heavily in guerrilla warfare to take over the government. Mao’s acts were unsuccessful and in 1949 Communism became China’s government. Great Britain is a country were evolutionary change and development not only influenced its own development, but also many other countries in the world.  Great Britain government is considered the mother government. It is the oldest government in existence. Their evolution as a government was watched and studied by many countries. And due in part that one time the British Empire was one of the largest in the world, holding various lands and territories. Many parts of democratic governments such as the legislative and executive branch can be seen as early as 1066 for Great Britain. Great Britain legislative branch was called the Great Council and the executive branch was called king’s council. The Parliament was created early in their government and is very similar to many countries man governmental body. Great Britain created in 1689 Bill of Rights which gave people their individual rights and liberties, such as freedom of speech and abolishing slavery. Within the last few years, Great Britain has seen some decline because of its old form of government. There has been no major change in years in their government and some researchers believe it is effected their economy and other problems the country is having. This can be seen in Britain’s way of putting â€Å"old wine in new bottles†. The British Parliament can be compared to other main bodies such as the House of Representatives in the United States., Great Britain created the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights created human rights for everyone. Many countries around the world have tried to create similar rights for their people. Although Great Britain economy has a slight decline within the last few years, it has proven to be one of the most stable governments in the world. The political attitudes vary from country to country as well as they always change. As countries evolve, the attitude of the people change according to what is happening. In countries that are in a strong economic standing, the peoples’ attitudes probably will lead more toward a nationalist feeling. For example, the people of Germany are upset because ever since that wall separating East and West Germany had to come down, there has been lower unemployment and fewer jobs. At first everyone was so happy to see the wall come down and now some wish that it never had. It is proven that the happier the people are with their government, the more they will participate. When more people get involved, this leads to political change. Sometimes a countries political  system changes when the people are not happy with the government. People get outraged with corruption, unemployment, welfare, education, and human rights. When the people are outraged, they revolt against the government. Also, the people will be supporting a leader that will change the system from the way that it is being run. When looking at the evolution of countries and the change in their political system, it seems as if many countries have changed or have wanted to change their form of government to a democratic government. Many countries have adapted to the Western Countries forms of government. Within the past couple of decades, more and more countries are slowly moving into a democratic form of government. Democracy has not fully proven to be the answer to all country problems but has been a step closer to helping some situations. There are many theories that try prove the democratic countries are less likely to have a war and more likely to be similar and in the long run better the world market. So as time goes on, so will the political systems of the world and the countries they exist in. For better or for worse, Political change will always have its appropriate place in the world. I do believe that the key to world unity lies in the hands of democracy. And Americans should do all in our power to implement democracy to the countries who desire it. References Shively, Phillip. â€Å"Power and Choice† eighth edition. 2003 McGraw Hill Roskin, Michael G. â€Å"Countries and concepts† eighth edition. 2003 Prentice Hall

Call To The Public Essay - 1731 Words

Call to the Public: Oil Effecting Economy and Wildlife Looking at the economy can be very black and white at times, some could even say it’s clear cut. Yet the reasons for fluctuation within markets, can significantly be impacted by the littlest of factors. One day an industry such as oil extraction can be booming and by the next facing a crippling public relations nightmare all from one mistake or oversite. That’s just how it works in the realm of big business. What if one was to say that company’s public relations nightmare would bring years of hurt, on everything from the regional economy, to the very life inhabiting in the affected area. What is there for us to do? How can we prevent such devastation brought on by mistakes? Across the†¦show more content†¦For example, â€Å"in 2014 750 barrels of crude oil was leaked into the Lower Mississippi River because a tanker ran into a towboat†. In addition, and unfortunately very common, oil spills are created through machine malfunction or explosion. This is what happened in the BP Deepwater oil spill. â€Å"An explosion damaged one of the rigs and they completely lost all ability to control the rig. The fire burned for over 36 hours until the rig sank† (NOAA.GOV). Oil spills can also be natural. On the California coast there are natural oil seeps which release up to â€Å"3,000 gallons of crude oil† every day. According to â€Å"hydrocarbons leak out of the ground through fractures and sediments, in the same way freshwater springs bring water to the surface† (Live Science Staff). The cleanup act for oil spills are â€Å"extremely extensive and expensive† as one government official said so elegantly. Even engaged in best efforts and with the most cutting edge technology, it is basically impossible to clean up all of the oil that has been released into the region. Although, many ways to try and clean the oil out of the water exist. One method they use is called skimming. â€Å"Skimming removes oil from the seas surface before it reaches the sensitive parts of the coast. A lot of the time a boat will pull a barrier called a boom that collects oil as it goes along to later be picked up by another boat that collects oil†. This is a very long process, it can be incredibly effectiveShow MoreRelatedRhetorical Analysis of a Public Document Assignment Essay926 Words   |  4 Pagesa Public Document Assignment Goal Write a 750-1,000-word essay that analyzes the rhetorical situation of a public document. This public document is the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) website on Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) found at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html. Your analysis should include at least TWO scholarly sources outside of class texts. Directions Complete a close reading of the assigned public document. 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