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Compare and Contrast Two Philosophical Poems

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Comparing the Allegory of the Cave by Plato to the poem The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus.

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Solution Summary

The Solution compares Camus's Myth of Sysiphus with Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

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The inspiration for Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" was predicated upon Socrates' condemnation in which Plato inferred that the city and its senators' had subsequently killed the most exemplary representative of philosophy in human history. Therefore, Plato sought to show that wrongly practiced politics such as the politics responsible for killing his mentor Socrates'; threatened the life of the philosopher and made it impossible for him to truly pursue philosophy, and this was particularly true whenever the philosopher had an interest in politics as politics as practiced by non-philosophers was negative for philosophy. In essence, philosophy viewed politics as incapable of placing the good of the people above the personal pursuits of politicians whereas the city or senators viewed philosophy as good-for-nothing in producing any actual solutions because it failed to act within the best interests of the city, which rendered their opinions irrelevant.

The conflict between the philosopher and polis is revealed through the "Allegory of the Cave" as Plato is arguing the importance of changing politics or the "minds of those in the cave" to keep philosophy safe while transforming politics in the city. The objective of the one person who leaves the cave and is enlightened with philosophy and the truth is to transform philosophy into something that is useful for politics wherein philosophy is considered the only entity capable of leading the city and polis toward good management that is for the good of humanity. In essence, the entire reason for Plato writing the allegory of the cave was political in regard to his intention of transforming the toxic city polis that killed his mentor toward more philosophical polis capable of doing good for all citizens.

This interpretation of the allegory of the cave is revealed through three "turnings" ...

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