Plato, John Dewey, Maria Montessori Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Plato, John Dewey, Maria Montessori - Essay Example To the prisoners the shadows and objects are his reality. (Cottingham, 1996, p. 67-69 512-513) In case the prisoner is allowed to turn around or even stand the sunlight coming into the cave from the entry will be too much for him. And if they are objects passing by their shadow to the prisoner are the reality rather than the object itself. He will see the sun as the source of the shadows that he has seen. Once this prisoner is taken outside and gets enlightened and has he desires to free other prisoners in the cave but they are not willing to set free. When the prisoner is back in the cave he is trying to adjust to the dim light and has to get used again. His identification of the objects on the wall goes down this makes the other prisoners to think that going to the surface has destroyed his eyesight. In the allegory the outside of the cave or the world represent amass knowledge and the cave is a representation of a dark place with limited information leading to a faulty reality. (Cottingham, 1996, p.67-69 512-513) According to Plato to get reality one had to look at the order of the creation to increase understanding of experience. 'Humans had to travel from the visible realm of image-making and objects of sense, to the intelligible, or invisible, realm of reasoning and understanding. "The Allegory of the Cave" symbolizes this trek and how it would look to those still in a lower realm. Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our Cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'. (Cottingham, 1996, p. 67-69 512-513) In Plato theory, what we perceive through our senses is not a reality i.e. what the prisoners see as the reality on the wall are just shadows, but on the contrary when one gains knowledge then he/she is able to understand the true reality. (Cottingham, 1996, p. 67-69 512-513) Unlike Plato in the Allegory of the cave the Pragmatisms connote that action and knowledge are two different spheres and also there is a supreme truth exceeding the sort of inquisition (ways by which the organisms can get a hold of their surrounding) that organisms use to get by in life. (Shusterman, 1997, p.11, 23, 90-95) This theory provides an environmental account of knowledge. 'Real' and 'true' are used in the inquiry process and they cannot be comprehended outside of that context. The theory acknowledges an outside world which needs to be tackled or dealt with. John Dewey says 'something is "made true" when it is verified.' According to Pragmatists; 'truth is not ready -made, but jointly we and reality "make" truth.' Truth is characterized by being mutable and it relative to abstract system. (Shusterman, 1997, p.11, 23, 90-95) In the Allegory of the cave approach they are no visible importance of teaching since the students observe and learn from what they see. A teacher or a mentor is not assigned any role since in Plato view of man is as a universal being that does not learn but discover. All human beings have the ability to move being ignorant to being knowledgeable as Plato asserts. (Shusterman, 199