Allegory of the Cave: Plato lets Socrates describe a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato’s Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.
The Allegory may be related to Plato’s Theory of Forms, according to which the “Forms” (or “Ideas”), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality. Only knowledge of the Forms constitutes real knowledge.In addition, the Allegory of the Cave is an attempt to explain the philosopher’s place in society: to attempt to enlighten the “prisoners”
This website offers a good overview of how the human approach to the mind has evolved over time. Antiquity to today.
(Source: maudit)
Philosopher’s Minimalism by Genís Carreras
Prints available at society6. Entitled “Philographics”, these minimalist geometric shapes represent various philosophical doctrines like existentialism, empiricism, nihilism, and solipsism. Several more can be seen on Carreras’ website, but spoiler alert: there appears to be no mention of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, which is just as much a code of ethics as it is a religious experience.
(via: io9)
K: There are neuroscientists and philosophers who would argue otherwise. See for example, Riccardo Manzotti or Alva Noë.
A: What are their arguments?
(Source: quora.com)
USC medical school professor Dr. Ken Murray has an interesting article titled ‘How Doctors Die’ outlining the difference between how most people die and how doctors die. As he says, “It’s not like the rest of us, but it should be.”
We as physicians are deeply familiar with how people usually…
(Source: atheistme)
