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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3301 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 10, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Isn’t the allegory of the cave kinda lame ? All you see are shadows, but I, the philosopher, see the true nature of things. You’re nothing but a groundhog to me, kid.

Not to mention how tortured it is. People have nothing better to do than to chain NPCs to a cave and give them an indonesian muppet show all day long? Can’t those shadows be made by real animals, walking along the road, or something?

I don't think it's lame at all, it's actually quite insightful. We all have our biases and limitations, and when we are confronted with matters outside them we naturally recoil (even if we are seeing the truth). The metaphor of the cave is very useful to remind us of that fact, and to encourage us to not flinch in the face of unfamiliar things because it may be we were ignorant before.

All you see are shadows, but I, the philosopher, see the true nature of things. You’re nothing but a groundhog to me, kid.

I think you're reading things that aren't there. It's been a hot minute since I read Plato, but as I recall there was no self-important smugness in the analogy. He was simply pointing out that this is how people act in the face of hard truths sometimes.

Not to mention how tortured it is. People have nothing better to do than to chain NPCs to a cave and give them an indonesian muppet show all day long? Can’t those shadows be made by real animals, walking along the road, or something?

I mean, what do you want? It's an analogy, meant to help us to see a point. It's not some completely realistic treatise of a situation that actually would occur in real life. I think you're really nitpicking here.

It's been a hot minute since I read Plato, but as I recall there was no self-important smugness in the analogy.

When people talk about Jordan Peterson, they're mostly talking about Jordan Peterson fans. When people talk about Barack Obama, they're mostly talking about their perception of Democratic voters more generally.

When OP talks about Plato, he's likely talking about the glosses that have been put on it, the secondary sources, etc.

I wonder if that’s true when there’s a single, specific point. Debating meditations on moloch rather than Scott in general.

But the cave story has been rigged on so much that might not be practical. We’re not exactly citing primary sources.

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