The Line and the Cave

Malcolm, John

doi:10.1163/156852862x00025

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…In a beautiful article, Dale Hall presents, comments and criticizes some interpretations of the Republic"s allegory of the Cave 19 . There seems to be no agreement on what the exact relationships between the Sun, the Line and the Cave are [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] . This is a topic that I will not comment on.…”

Section: Plato"s Cavementioning

confidence: 99%

Biology and Philosophy. VI. Plato‟s Cave and Homo sapiens Inequality

Gómez-Jeria¹

2019

World Journal of Research and Review

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Paper Plato's Cave is presented and discussed considering it as a primary model to place man in the ladder of the degrees of apprehension of reality. A model constituted by a cylinder-ladder with steps is presented and discussed. The lowest level of this cylinder is filled with Homo sapiens having special characteristics. The people living inside Plato's Cave fill the next segment of the cylinder. These people are well described in Charles de Bovelles' Liber de Sapiente. An individual placed on a certain step of this ladder is able to perceive the individuals placed on lower steps and may find an appropriate way to communicate with them. But he is not able to recognize individuals placed on steps above him, perceiving them at most as his equals. Also, an individual can ascend this ladder if and only if he has the genetic inheritance that allows him to do so. Also, he must find the appropriate method adapted to his genetics allowing him to climb. The cylinder-ladder model provides an interesting explanation of the results of the activity of preachers. It is necessary that Humanity be free definitively of all the elements that exist within Plato's Cave. This could be done when we have the complete knowledge of how to manipulate our DNA and thus be able to get rid of the trunk of the Primates and create one or more completely new species and not an 'improved' Homo sapiens. The necessity of finding the personal ontological status in the ladder should be an imperative for all.

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Section: Plato"s Cavementioning

confidence: 99%

Biology and Philosophy. VI. Plato‟s Cave and Homo sapiens Inequality

Gómez-Jeria¹

2019

World Journal of Research and Review

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“…Just as there is no easy way to (pre-scientifically) explain the “epistemological status of the objects of cognitive attention” (Malcolm, 1962, p. 44) or knowledge attained through dialectic (p. 43), Plato uses analogy in the form of myth to make his point about how we are, generally, often wanting intellectually (we are only ever partially knowledgeable) and rarely can link Forms (actual objects) to variations of thought and opinion (as we should). Librarians have also, platonically, resorted to making the difficult explanation of what is knowledge something analogical as well – knowledge is not what we find in stories but we need the story to help us understand ourselves – knowledge is non-fiction.…”

Section: Partmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-fiction: an unnaturally naturalised concept for collection development

Kelly

2018

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Purpose: This paper seeks to problematise the basis of our use of non-fiction as an explanatory category in libraries that have mandates to deliver information to civil society users in order to initiate debate on its ongoing value.Design/methodology/approach: A range of literature from the fields of information science, philosophy, literary studies and the sociology of knowledge was critically surveyed in order to uncover reasons for the use of the non-fiction concept when librarians are dealing with documentary knowledge. A process of thematisation of relevant material was then conducted utilising a methodology informed by historicist and hermeneutic-phenomenological approaches to social scientific inquiry.Findings: While the concept of non-fiction has arguably been the single most influential "gift" of librarianship to other disciplines and to readers, the term's extreme simplicity masks a complex range of factors associated with common-sense understanding of life and our conceptualisation of what constitutes knowledge in civil society information environments. By masking the nature of questions associated with knowledge and documentary knowledge the non-fiction concept contributes to a restricted view of how these concepts interrelate.Practical implications: Preliminary reasons are offered for why the non-fiction concept is problematic and an alternative discursive formation is put forward which may enable more fruitful caretaking of documentary collections in school and public libraries.Originality/value: This paper helps to open the discussion among collection management theorists and practitioners regarding how the concept of documentary knowledge can be more usefully theorised so that it is better able to support the epistemic learning and socialisation goals of libraries characterised by their civil society setting. NON-FICTION: AN UNNATURALLY NATURALISED 3 PART 1Within the world of ideas that school and public library selectors are called upon to represent to their readers the contingency which operates to separate fiction from what has some physical manifestation, albeit as a real or intentional object, has an uncertain and largely undefined status as "non-fiction." Why reality, as either a physical object or process or, as a product of human thought-as metaphysical, ethical or historical speculation-is, or should be, defined with reference to novels in libraries, and by extension within general literary discursive frameworks, is largely undefined. An attempt is made here to highlight why this is problematic and how knowledge is arrested in its development as a result of a choice by civil society's librarians to represent knowledge as a nebulous concept, either incalculable beyond mere classification, or inestimable, given the limits of the typical librarian's scientific and humanistic training.By choosing to avoid an engagement with the concept of knowledge librarians in nonacademic settings work within a poorly framed set of epistemic reference points. This construction is that knowledge is an entity...

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“…This interpretation has been popular sinceMalcolm 1962. See alsoWilson 1976 on the relationship between pistis and music and gymnastics.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Soul-Turning Metaphor in Plato’s Republic Book 7

Storey

2022

Classical Philology

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In Book 7 of the Republic, Plato introduces a metaphor for what education ought to do-it ought to turn the soul around. Although it is a well-known metaphor, and one that is often referenced in discussions of both the Republic and education, it has received little direct attention. This is unfortunate not only because of its importance to Plato's view of education, but also because it has been misunderstood in ways that have led to significant confusions about what Plato is up to in Book 7, and especially in the Cave allegory, with which it is intertwined.The problem is not so much the interpretation of the metaphor itself. While not incontestable, the essential details of the metaphor, as it is first introduced in what I will call 'the soul-turning passage' (518b7-19b5), reveal themselves clearly enough when examined carefully.1 The problem is that as we read further into Book 7, we find further uses of the metaphor that seem to compel us to adopt another, incompatible reading. Since commentators have tended to focus exclusively on either the earlier or the later evidence, the tension between these two readings has never been resolved. This has contributed to some of the most fundamental disagreements about what Plato says in Book 7, the most notable of which concerns the Cave allegory and, specifically, the interpretation of the freed prisoner's first turn from the shadows to statues, which Plato likens to turning the 'whole soul.' * This paper has been greatly improved by comments on earlier drafts from Cinzia Arruzza, Robert Howton, Nicholas Smith, and Haris Theodorelis-Rigas. 1 The few sustained discussions of the metaphor tend to converge. See, for example, Reeve 2010, and Smith 2019, introduction. My exposition of the basic metaphor (sections 1 and 2) aims to put this reading on firmer ground, adding new detail and argument.

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The Line and the Cave

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Biology and Philosophy. VI. Plato‟s Cave and Homo sapiens Inequality

Biology and Philosophy. VI. Plato‟s Cave and Homo sapiens Inequality

Non-fiction: an unnaturally naturalised concept for collection development

The Soul-Turning Metaphor in Plato’s Republic Book 7

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