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Plato 's Allegory Of The Cave And The Gospel Of Matthew 's Sermon On The Mount

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Two distinct texts that may seem at odds when superficially compared, hinge on shared foundational values. Course study and personal analysis of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and the Gospel of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount indicate both appeal against ignorance and warn against egotistic behavior. Both texts take a tactful and thoughtful examination of man’s inability to comfortably, consistently, and effectively look beyond their individual selves as the key figures in a normalized and standardized society. Telling here is Plato scholar Allan Bloom and his belief that: “The modernist historical consciousness has engendered a general skepticism about the truth of all “world views” except for that one of which it is itself a product (Bloom …show more content…

In fact, what Plato seems most settled upon is the notion that the sensory realm amounts to no more than an illusion of substance and definition—that instead what we see and feel only mimics reality. Plato is clear that not all men are prepared to decline the comfort provided by ignorance to invite the unknown. He does not “present a doctrine” as much as he “prepares the way for philosophizing” (Bloom XXI). It requires man to adopt an outlook perpetually critical of seemingly objective experiences and knowledge. Doing so, according to the “Allegory” means questioning your peers’ reality and willingly declining the comfort of simplicity and familiarly for the ability to experience reality through thought. It means ditching the safety of the cave’s darkness for the chance to experience the brilliance of the sun—Plato’s message is clear: reality and reason are most real when man is critical of what he’s established to be objective fact. One strong example from the text is when is when the prisoner’s eye witness freedom: “And if he compelled him to look at the light itself what his eyes hurt him but he fully turning away to those things that

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