In my article I explain the reasons why the phrase "ignorance is bliss" is true. I also explain how “knowledge is power” and why this is also true. I explain why I believe the second part of my paradox is the truest and how other philosophers might agree and disagree with me. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Isn't it strange that we say "ignorance is a blessing" and "what we don't know will not harm us", but at the same time ignorance is seen as a bad thing and “knowledge is power? ” The men in Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” were bound in a cave their entire lives. They were not upset or angry at being tied up because they were ignorant of the world outside that cave. For them this was not torture; it was life as they knew it. What was in front of them was all there was. But once one of them saw the real world and learned more about the truth, they realized how bad it was before. This scenario can be linked to today using the phrases mentioned above. The men in Plato's imaginary cave were happy with their lives before they learned the truth of the outside world. Bound since childhood, their arms and legs had become accustomed to the restraints and were not painful, and their eyes were well adapted to the dark environment of the cave. To others these men in the cave were prisoners, but in the minds of men they were not. These men are similar to children in that they do not have the ability to move well and their eyes are not fully developed. Children have similar perceptions of the world: dark, shadowy figures and unclear, echoing sounds. Their idea of ​​the world would have been monistic. According to Palmer (2011), “monism [is] the idea that there is only one reality or only one kind of thing that is real” (p. 113). What you see is what you get, so in their case ignorance was truly a blessing. These men who spent their lives in the cave saw what Plato calls images. What they saw was not the real object, but having only seen these shadow figures, in their minds they were the real object making the movements and noises they were experiencing. “Shadows and reflections are the examples that Plato offers us of images. They depend on the sensitive objects of which they are images. For Plato, the shadow of a tree is less real than the tree because the tree lasts longer than the shadow and because the tree can exist without the shadow, but the shadow cannot exist without the tree" ( Palmer, 2011, p. 44 ). Clearly, Plato felt that the shadows were only images. In another part of the "Allegory of the Cave" Socrates tells Glaucon that perhaps the men in the cave have a game in which the players tried to guess most accurately which shadow would appear on the wall next. . “Do you think [the freed man] would want what they have and envy their honors and positions of power?” (Republic, Book VII, 516d). The men chained in the cave would have been very proud of their abilities to divine the shadows, but the man freed after returning to the cave would not have cared to know what the shadows actually were. The status of the prisoners would be elevated for themselves and for the freed man it would be lower than before his release. From the point of view of the liberated man the opposite is true. He would have thought that the men in the cave were inferior to him. The prisoners' ignorance would bring them happiness. The same goes for the liberated man. Even though he has leveled up, he still ignores many things he doesn't know. This raises another question: would prisoners be able tounderstand what the freed man was trying to tell them about the outside world? If the freed man had the opportunity to share his experiences with the prisoners, I don't think the men would even recognize the voice of the freed man. His dialogue would change so drastically that he might as well be speaking another language. On the other hand, ignorance is not a good thing. This is what I believe Plato is trying to convey to the reader. As we grow and age, we also become educated through our perceptions of the world or through revelations. It helps me to think that everyone has some level of ignorance, and the higher the level a person reaches (higher level for less ignorance), the better life is as it is now and the worse it seems as it was before. The man freed from the cave saw the outside world and realized how empty his life was before. . He leveled up in knowledge and was no longer satisfied with his life before freedom. From that moment on he will never be able to return to his original state of bliss chained inside the cave. He then began to wonder what else was out there, and his need for knowledge increased: “Suppose he should remember his first home, and the wisdom there, and his fellow prisoners then. Wouldn't he be happy with the change and not pity them?" (Republic, Book VII, 516c). This is why I believe the saying “knowledge is power” is true. In my opinion, without being able to see the truth of the real world, men are unable to think beyond what is directly in front of them. Their world is not only literally, but also figuratively two-dimensional. “Allegory of the Cave” never clearly states whether or not men can see each other, but I think Plato meant that they could see nothing but the shadows cast on the wall. I believe that if humans saw a three-dimensional object (a person, a tree, etc.) they would have acquired sufficient knowledge through reason to deduce that shadows are not objects, but simply images of objects they cannot see. Eventually, they would be able to assume that there are more real objects to experience, and from there they would level up and become prisoners in their own minds. “Allegory of the Cave” reminds me of Descartes' evil genius hypothesis. The hypothesis predicts that the evil genius is the person or people who cast shadows on the cave wall and never reveal the truth about the world to the prisoners. The prisoners only see what the evil geniuses want them to see. I feel like the only thing stopping the men in the cave from thinking like Descartes and creating a scenario about an evil genius is that they can't see themselves. The least these men need to begin rationalizing is to have an idea of ​​something three-dimensional. After a long debate in my mind, I believe that the second part of my paradox is truer than the first, especially in the case of prisoners. in “Allegory of the Cave”. I would think that in life it would be better to know as much as possible and continue to strive to gain more knowledge than to always believe that nothing exists but myself, the wall in front of me, and the shadows moving on the wall. I think Plato would agree with me here. “Do you think [the freed man] would want what [the prisoners] have, and envy them their honors and positions of power? Or would he think, as Homer says, that he would much rather be a slave to a landless man and suffer anything, than believe those things and live that life? Yes, said [Glaucon], I think he would suffer anything to accept that life” (Republic, Book VII, 516d). In this passage, I think Plato is really inferring)