Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Thinking Outside The Box

Well in both the "Allegory of the Cave" and Sartre's play the idea of people only seeing what is in front of them is stated. In the allegory of the cave Plato explains through extended metaphor and the allegory with the character of the prisoner only seeing the shadows created by the fire behind him and nothing else of the world. As in Sartre's play the three roomates fail to see at first the room itself and themselves are their own torture created by the devil(or whoever runs hell in this play). Satre describes his point with extensive and descriptive dialogue. Also in Satre's play the characters although as hard as they try in reality are set up to see and feel what hell has set for them to be their eternal torture same as the Plato's allegory of the cave with the metaphor of the fire creating the shadows that the prisoners believe to be everything.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Gold by Henry Moore Sonnet

Almighty gold! whose magic charms dispense Worth to the worthless, to the graceless grace, To cowards valour, and to blockheads sense, And to the withered maid a Hebe's face, Poor love exiled, thou sitst on Hymen's throne; Thou rulest the court, the senate, and the bar; And though the church thy deity disown, Some whisper thou hast priest and altar there. All human charities, all laws divine Deluded mortals offer at thy shrine; O thou supreme, like fate, to kill or save! To thy vast empire what is wanting more? "Nought," sighs Avaro, "had it but the power To silence conscience, and to bribe the grave."

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Allegory of the Cave Sonnet

Living in the shadows Blinded by their own ignorance Never stepping out of their rows As to them it hadn’t any sense Chained down by their own mind To only see what was displayed Never realizing what was outside Or that they were being played Until one saw the light And followed it out of the cave He now was full of insight No longer a knave His full potential was realized No longer being told a lie

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Plato Study Questions

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent? What I got was that the allegory represented how people are chained in the cave of what is considered the status quo of life where people see it as everything like the shadows and that it is also very difficult to be enlightened and break away from this cave and it takes a while for people to realize that there is more than what they have been led to believe. 2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory? The shadows created by the flame to be the reality the prisoners believe to be reality and the light at the end as the enlightenment of what else is out there other than what they have been led to believe to be all reality. 3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education? That it isn’t a quick process but one that takes a while to completely take in and adjust to due to being led for so long to believe to be everything. 4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners? That they are kept away from the rest of the world and only see what there is in their own little world. 5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind? Well coming from a Latino background I have seen Hispanic communities not try to further themselves but shackle themselves and keep themselves in their own little caves instead of breaking out enlightening themselves and bettering themselves with knowledge. 6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners? 7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they? 8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom? What I understood was that it was due to just curiosity of what is towards the light, and I would say that it suggests that intellectual freedom is created by our curiosity to question what’s out there that leads us to our freedom. 9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not? I would agree with that as Dr. Preston’ example of this is not a pipe works as what appeared to be a pipe turned out in reality was just a drawing of a pipe. 10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions? Appearances aren’t always true as reality is true would be what I think to be the distinction between the two.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Big Question

what is it that gives us life as in whats that spark that keeps are heart beating are brain thinking and personality ours,

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Sonnet notes


  • The Sonnet is most commonly used as a love poem
  • it contains 14 lines
  • rhyme pattern; abab cdcd efef dd
  • last to lines rhyme together and are called a couplet
  • types of sonnets are elizabethan, itallian, shakespearan and another one i cant remember

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Vocab list 10

aficionado- a serious devotee of some particular music genre or musical performer browbeat- to discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate commensurate- able to be measured by a common standard diaphanous- Of such fine texture as to be transparent or translucent emolument- Payment for an office or employment foray- A sudden raid or military advance genre- a category homily- An inspirational saying or platitude immure- To confine within or as if within walls; imprison insouciant- carefree or unconcerned; light-hearted matrix- a substance, situation, or environment in which something has its origin, takes form, or is enclosed obsequies- A funeral rite or ceremony panache- A bunch of feathers or a plume, especially on a helmet. persona- The role that one assumes or displays in public or society; one's public image or personality, as distinguished from the inner self philippic- a bitter or impassioned speech of denunciation; invective prurient- unusually or morbidly interested in sexual thoughts or practices sacrosanct- Regarded as sacred and inviolable Systemic- Of or relating to systems or a system tendentious- Marked by a strong implicit point of view; partisan vicissitude- A change or variation