Study Questions for Plato
By Maria Garcia
In this selection, titled "On Shadows and Realities in Education," Plato sets up a hypothetical situation which yields much fruit in thought and learning. The following questions help test one's understanding of the allegory. Although we and many others refer to it as Plato's myth, the analogy of the cave, and the allegory of the cave, please note the official title. Be sure to set it off correctly.
Read through the text above to find the answers. Use the Find or Search function in the online text in Blackboard Content to locate the quotations.
- The first sentence indicates that the discussion is about which topic?
- Draw a word picture of the setting Plato, through Socrates’ voice, describes. How closely does your drawing match the illustration here?
- What happens to one of the prisoners?
- Who is it who "gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things"?
- For what skill are the prisoners "in the habit of conferring honours [sic] among themselves"?
- When the released person comes back and is "replaced in his old situation," how do the ones who never left respond to him? Have you ever heard of anything like that ever happening?
- If the freed man "tried to loose another and lead him up to the light," what would the cave people do to him (if they could catch him)? Extra credit: can you name the character in classic literature to which this passage, especially the section about catching him and putting him to death, refers? Send the answer to me in Blackboard private mail for 5 bonus points.
- When Socrates explains "This entire allegory" to Glaucon, what are his main points?
- Name
the two realms in which "the
power [of the person] who would act rationally" operates.
- Does Socrates agree or disagree with the idea that educators "can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before"?
- As Socrates sees it, then, what is the main function of educators?
- Identify the "single aim of duty" for "ministers of State;" in other words, when legislators vote on a bill, what primary value should guide them? Extra credit: can you name a film or series of films in the science fiction genre in which the characters’ paraphrase of this idea echoes several times as a motif? Send the film title(s) and a paraphrase of the quotation to me in Blackboard private mail for 10 bonus points.
- Identify the "business of … the founders of the State." Which government program supports that "business" and how else does the state encourage it?
- What does Socrates see as the "intention of the legislator" with regard to happiness? Whom is the legislator supposed to make happy?
- How does Socrates justify "compelling our philosophers to have a care and providence of others"?
- Those whom Socrates’ society has brought "into the world to be rulers of the hive," serve as kings over which two domains?
- What "struggle" distracts those in societies not as well educated as Socrates and other Greeks are?
- What does Socrates assume to be true about the relationship between "hungering after [one’s] own private advantage" and an orderly, peaceful society?
- For Plato, "the true blessings of life" are what?
- Teachers and legislators correspond to which characters in the hypothetical situation that Socrates describes early in the story?
- What, then, does Plato’s text overall say about the topic he announces in the first sentence?
- What is the most outstanding piece of insight on life that Plato’s myth of the cave provides?
- Which of the following titles shows how a student should emphasize the Plato reading when s/he writes about it? Check all that use capitalization, italics, and quotation marks correctly.
[ ] a. Allegory of the Cave
[ ] b. Plato's
Myth
[ ] c. "Plato's Myth"
[ ] d. Allegory of the Cave
[ ] e. On Shadows and Realities in Education
[ ] f. "On Shadows and Realities in Education"
[ ] g. Plato's Myth
[ ] h. "Allegory of the Cave"
[ ] i. On Shadows and Realities in Education
[ ] j. Plato's myth
[ ] k. allegory of the cave
Enrichment
• The illustration is here.
• A
similar, more detailed one is
here. Click on The Republic and
page through to Part 7.
• YouTube has an animation that helps with comprehension. It illustrates the simile at the beginning. However, it does not show all of our text, so please do read it. The animation lasts about 8 1/2 minutes and has one brief section that flickers rapidly. The video opens in a new window. Click here to see it.
• A Flash animation created by the British Museum explains it well here.
• SAC has a video that discusses and dramatizes Plato's Republic. It provides background on him and also illustrates both "The Apology" and the myth of the cave.
• It is titled The Republic: Plato's Utopia. The call number is JC71.P6 R47 2003.
• It
may be viewed on campus only in MLC
435
• A SAC picture ID is required.
• Call (210) 486-0582 to find out when you may
go by there.
• See here
for a discussion of how to use the title
and set it off correctly.
• See this site for an alternative perspective.
• This summary and notes on assumptions are illuminating.
• This site provides thorough thinking on the topic.
• Definition
of paradigm
shift, of which the allegory is
a classic example.
• The Great Books site provides some background on Plato. Scroll down to the last third of the page, or do a search for "About Plato."
• An
applied-Plato set of guidelines can help with
decision-making
here, and for guidelines on writing practices,
see the
advice here.
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