Discuss Plato’s Parable of the Cave. Plato’s parable of the cave, also known as the “allegory of the cave, opulently describes beneficial metaphors and elaborate imagery about knowledge, ignorance, truth and lastly enlightenment. The allegory of the cave appears at the beginning of Book VII of Plato’s The Republic, which in itself is principally a study of justice, government and leadership. In The Republic, Plato describes a cave containing individuals confined to the cave floor, bound by shackles. They are unable to move their heads and stare incessantly at the cave wall directly in front of them. The prisoners cannot see one another. Behind the prisoners burns a fire projecting images of objects, animals and individuals carrying various objects onto the wall of the cave. The prisoners are also aware of conversations occurring behind them. The shadows (skiai) on the wall of the cave are believed by the prisoners to be real. This is the reality of the prisoners – their truth, their knowledge of the world. The analogy continues and one of the prisoners frees himself from the chains. Now that he is unshackled he is able to rotate his head, see the entrance of the cave, look and walk towards the fire. The newly liberated captive finds this agonizing and is overwhelmed by the light of both the cave and as he leaves the cave the sun. He has spent his entire life in almost complete darkness, with limited capabilities, and minimal movement. The freedman is now faced with the chilling realization that his entire life has been limited by his experiences of the cave floor. His life has been lived in the shadows and he has been aware of only the reflections of reality and truth. “These prisoners represent the majority of man, the multitude of people who remain all their lives in a state of ignorance beholding only shadows of reality and hearing only echo’s of the truth†(F. Coplesto, 1985, pg 161). The prisoners represent us – humankind. Plato attempts to alert humans to the possibility that our senses may be deceiving us and that a greater reality exists in the light of truth – out side the cave and our own knowledge. For most of us this reality is beyond our sight and only an extraordinary life-changing event may give us a chance to view this truth – this new reality. The cave challenges individuals to reflect on the possibility that there is a reality... ...n there senses and search for truth. Plato describes the danger of accepting the world as we see and sense it with out challenge and critical thought. Although over two and a half thousand years old Plato’s message still resounds in a world preoccupied with consumerism and self gratification. Reference list 1)     Copleston F, S.J. (1962) A History of philosophy Book one. Image books. 2) Foster M. M.A, PH.D. (1942). Masters of political thought. George G. Harrap and CO. LTD. 3) Hare R.M. (1991). Founders of thought. Oxford University press. 4) Jackson R (2001) Plato the beginner’s guild. Hodder and Stoughton. 5) Magee, B. (1998). The Story of philosophy. A Dorling Kindersley Book 6) Mcinerny R M (1963). A History of Western Philosophy from the beginnings of Philosophy to Plotinus. Henry Regnery Company. 7) Robinson D and Groves J (2000) Introducing Plato. Icon books UK, Totem books USA. 8) Scott-Kakure D, Castagnetto S, Benson H, Taschek W and Hurley P. (1993) History of philosophy. Harper Perennial. 9) Solomon R C and Higgins K M. (1996) A Short history of Philosophy. Oxford University press Inc. 10) Weil, S. http://rivertext .com
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12/30/2019 0 Comments Diagnosis of an infected patient Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 wordsDiagnosis of an infected patient - Essay Example The Bacillus is a very resilient bacterium because it can produces spores (actually, oval endospores which are not true spores) which remain dormant over long periods of time and then re-activated whenever the right environmental conditions are present for it to reproduce again. Its spores can theoretically be dormant for many years in the soil but can still infect after a lapse of several decades. Bacillus can be either aerobic (oxygen-reliant) or facultative anaerobic (having ability to be aerobic or not). It is gram-positive when stained although some Bacillus are gram-negative too. Escherichia differs from Bacillus in that it is non-spore forming, gram-negative when it is stained, and it is facultatively anaerobic although it is like Bacillus in being rod-shaped also in form when viewed under the microscope. Many strains under the Escherichia species are known human pathogens which cause many urinary tract infections (UTI) as well as common intestinal ailments like diarrhea and dysentery. However, some strains are beneficial and known also by the alternative living arrangement called commensal which is a relationship between two kinds of organisms where one organism benefits without necessarily harming the other organism. Mycoplasma is the smallest known bacteria and do not have a cell wall which allows it to be flexible enough and take many different shapes, depending on its environment. It is also resistant to most medicinal drugs which specifically target cell walls synthesis like penicillin or antibiotics as its lack of a wall prevents a precise targeting mechanism for a drug to work on it. It is considered as one of the smallest living cells ever discovered and many of its strains are cause of ailments as it is pathogenic and parasitic. Mycoplasma is anaerobic (survives without oxygen) and it is gram-positive when stained. It was mistakenly thought to be a fungus when first
Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of Sense beneath is rarely found. (Essay on Criticism, ll.309-310) Any investigation of Shakespeare's Hamlet that wishes to harvest "fruit of sense" must begin with the ghost. Dover Wilson is right in terming Hamlet's visitor the "linchpin," but the history of critical opinion regarding its origin has been diverse and conflicting. Generally, critics have opted for a Purgatorial ghost: Bradley speaks of "...a soul come from Purgatory," (1) Lily Campbell believes "Shakespeare has pictured a ghost from Purgatory according to all the tests possible," but adds, "Shakespeare chose rather to throw out suggestions which might satisfy those members of his audience who followed any one of the three schools of thought on the subject." (2). G. Wilson Knight fuses Purgatorial origin with ambiguity: "With exquisite aptness the poet has placed him, not in heaven or hell, but purgatory," adding "It is neither 'good' nor bad', True its effects are mostly evil." (3) In another work he notes, "The ghost may or may not have,., been a 'goblin damned': it certainly was no 'spirit of health,' (4) Wilson terms his 'linchpin' as Catholic: "...the Ghost is Catholic: he comes from Purgatory."(5) A flurry of critical opinion began, however, in 1951 when Roy Battenhouse argued, "The ghost, then, does not come from a Catholic Purgatory, but from an afterward exactly suited to fascinate the imagination and understanding of the humanist intellectual of the Renaissance." By that he meant, "...the purgatory of the Ancients, or their hell...since all are Hell from a Christian point of view: an inhabitant of any one of them is a "damned" spirit...(6... ...et: Pagan or Christian?" The Month. 9 (1953), pp. 233-234. (8) Robert West. "King Hamlet's Ambiguous Ghost:" PMLA. 70 (1955), p. 1116. (9) Harry Levin. The Queftion of Hamlet. New York: Oxford Books, 1970), p. 43. (10) Sister Mariam Joseph. "Discerning the Ghost in Hamlet." PMLA 76 (1961), p. 502 (11) Eleanor Prosser. Hamlet and Revenge. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1091, p. 252. (12) Stephen Greenblatt. Hamlet in Purgatory. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. (13) K.R. Eissler. Discourse on Hamlet and Hamlet: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry. New York: International Universities, Press, 1971, p. 68. (14) Harold Boom. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead Books, 1998. Hamlet and Falstaff is treated throughout the book as touchstones for all other characters. Chapter 23 discusses Hamlet specifically.
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