- In the text there are two sources of light: the fire and the sun, i.e. the limited view of the prisoners and the knowledge of the outside world. Do you think they represent different kinds of knowledge (i.e. a more limited understanding of a concept vs. complete understanding)? Are there any real life examples of superficial knowledge vs. in-depth knowledge?
- How we understand/perceive other people's emotions can be an example of a "cave" that people live in. Do you think there is a difference between sympathizing and empathizing? Is one more effective than the other? Do you think that one feels different when empathizing vs. when sympathizing with someone?
- Do you think there are any "caves" that we will never be able to escape? Why or why not?
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
The Allegory of the Cave
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2. Sympathy is usually used to mean feeling sorry for someone else while empathy is being able to put yourself in their shoes and first hand know the experience of the other person. For example, I was talking to someone who said that he had a teacher who said Charles Mingus' jazz had no emotional vlue and could only be used for theory exploration purposes because no one there knows what its like to be black in the 20s-50s, but that's because he thought that emotion could only be transferred through empathy. Although there may be truth in that, that we may never fully be able to feel the emotions of Mingus' music because we cannot empathize, I think there is still a strong transfer of emotion/message through sympathy- he has formed the music into a way to sympathize, in my opinion, so that one doesn't have to empathize to feel his feelings. Although an ability to empathize would most likely make his message more effective, perhaps those who already do empathize would have no need for the message in the music to be as powerful.
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