Week 1: Introduction to Philosophy — Plato's Cave
Week of Mon, Aug 17 · week closes Sun, Aug 23
This week's items
- Week 1 Discussionpoints in Canvas
- Week 1 Quizpoints in Canvas
Exact due times are in Canvas. Late work is not accepted except for a documented emergency (doctor's note, funeral announcement) arranged case by case.
Read this week
- The Allegory of the Cave — Plato, Republic Book VII — the first four pages carry the whole allegory
Textbook chapters (Payne): Ch. 1: What Philosophy Is · Ch. 2: How Philosophy is Done
Know these cold
- Philosophy means 'love of wisdom' (Greek philos + sophia). It asks the questions evidence alone cannot settle: what is real, what can we know, how should we live.
- A philosophical question is answered by reasoning and argument, not by measuring (science) or by looking it up (fact). 'Is it ever right to lie?' is philosophical; 'What is the boiling point of water?' is not.
- The main branches: metaphysics (what exists), epistemology (what we can know), ethics (how we should act), logic (how to reason well), aesthetics (beauty and art).
- In the Cave, prisoners chained since childhood see only shadows on a wall and take the shadows for reality.
- The freed prisoner is dragged into the sunlight, is blinded at first, then sees real things and finally the sun — Plato's image for the Form of the Good, the source of truth.
- The freed prisoner goes back down to help the others; they laugh at him and would kill him if they could. Plato is pointing at what Athens did to Socrates.
- The lesson: education is not pouring knowledge into an empty mind; it is turning the whole soul toward the light. Learning can hurt before it frees.
- Plato's Forms: the perfect, unchanging patterns (Beauty itself, Justice itself) that the changing things we see only copy.
Discussion and forum — how to show up
Discussion post
- Open with your claim in one sentence — what you think and why.
- Bring one line from the Cave and say what it means in your own words.
- Connect it to something real: school, work, a feed, a family rule.
- Reply to two classmates: address their idea, ask one question, add one thing they missed.
Netiquette from the syllabus: address ideas, not people. Complete sentences, correct spelling. Personal matters go to email, never the board.
Meerk's quiz — open the Week 1 gate
10 questions, no time limit. 85% on your first attempt in a 24-hour window opens the gate. Retakes inside the window are practice — they help you learn, they don't count. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Stuck?
Raise your hand. Mr. James gets a message right away and can help you remotely. Nothing else is stored — just your last name, grade, and where you're stuck.
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: What is something everyone around you believes that you think might just be a shadow on the wall?
En español: ¿Qué es algo que todos a tu alrededor creen y que tú piensas que podría ser solo una sombra en la pared?