Exercises — Week 1: Introduction to Philosophy — Plato's Cave
3 hands-on tasks. Do them in order; each one feeds the Canvas item it names.
10 min · reasoning
1. Sort the questions
- Write these five questions in a column: Is time travel possible? How far is the Moon? Should teenagers vote? What is friendship? Does this bridge hold 40 tons?
- Label each one E (empirical — answered by observation or measurement) or P (philosophical — answered by argument and definitions).
- For each P, write the one word in the question that would need defining before anyone could answer it.
Turn in / bring: Your labeled list — it is the warm-up for the Week 1 Discussion and Course Outcome 1.
20 min · reading
2. Map the Cave
- Draw the cave as a four-column table: Thing in the story · What it stands for · Line from the text · One modern example.
- Fill in at least six rows: the chains, the shadows, the fire, the freed prisoner, the sun, the return to the cave.
- For 'one modern example,' use something from your own life (a feed, a rumor, a habit) — not a textbook example.
Turn in / bring: The completed table. Bring it to office hours or use it to write your discussion post.
20 min · writing
3. Discussion draft
- Answer in 150–200 words: What is one 'shadow' people around you treat as reality, and what would it take to turn them toward the light?
- Quote one phrase from the Cave and explain why it fits.
- End with one open question for a classmate — a real one, not a yes/no.
Turn in / bring: The post, pasted into Canvas before the Week 1 window closes.