Overview
Discussion on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Answer the questions that are in bold below:
I am sure you have heard the expression “rock star” as applied to some people who are not actually rock stars. Several years ago at a PATH station I saw an ad promoting science education with a photo of several scientists together and the caption “Rock Stars of Science.” Obviously this was meant to catch our attention and tell us how great these scientists are. (Imagine a different ad: promoting rock musicians by calling them “Science Stars of Rock.”)
Why do people admire rock stars? What image of a good life is involved in this admiration? Do you admire rock stars? Is our fascination with rock stars and what we think about their lives an example of what Socrates describes in the cave, prisoners who are enthralled by images and echoes from the wall of the cave?
Be sure to explain your answers.
I offer one more note about this topic for you to think about. I am not asking you to answer any questions about this, just to provoke your thought.
One recent commentator on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave writes that disputes in courts (which Socrates refers to in this allegory) and “every artistic or political performance” that “captures the public’s attention” draws “more attention to the flash of its form than to the solid matter of its content” and leaves “the audience more ignorant than ever.”
Ignorant about what? About what a good life for a human being really is. “The prisoners,” this commentator writes, “who squint at and squabble over shadows represent all those citizens who believe what politicians and artists tell them.” (“Artists” include rock stars and other musical performers.).