Philosophy 101 - Class 1

As promised I have opened the old dusty textbooks my parents bought when I was a long-haired pseudo hippie student at Iowa Wesleyan College.  Not having a clue about much of anything I decided to be a political science major mostly because I had read a few Allan Drury novels in high school.  Having always enjoyed politics I thought more doors would open with that major than anything else.

Dr. George E. LaMore, Professor Emeritus 

Then I walked into a Dr. George E. LaMore intro theology class.  And that, as they say made all the difference.  Dr. LaMore was a college legend, and still is.  Gifted orator, magnificent teacher who could make the complex understandable LaMore yielded knowledge and concepts like Arthur and his Excalibur.  I was mesmerized, and heavy-headed not by the previous days drinking binge at West Side Tap, but with ideas.  I learned about the psychology of theology, the real meaning of the stories in the New Testament, and what it all meant for people in their lives.  And then I had my first philosophy course.

Dr. Theodore Khan, Deceased

It was Logic with the mysterious, imposing Dr. Theodore Khan.  It didn't help that my Poly-Sci teacher was fresh out of school and the comparison with George and Ted found him sadly wanting.  I dropped him and threw my entire lot into the Theology-Philosophy department.  I began a concerted effort to grab as many courses with these two professors as I could and while more doors could have opened with Poly-Sci, I said damn it, I like this stuff more!  I went on to learn about Existentialism, Immanual Kant, Epicureanism,  Wittgenstein,  Teilhard de Chardin, and all things philosophical.  I loved it, and how I was able to find a job after all that is a miracle.  Not only did I find a job in spite of my majors, but a job that I really loved, too.  So I was blessed for the most part.  It all worked out so well.
I ended up with a double major (Philosophy/Theology) with a History minor.  Funny how things work out.

 My favorite teachers having a chat with Dr. Jerry Richards, a pretty neat teacher himself.  Dr. Richards became IWC President for a while after Dr. Hasselmayer resigned. 

I wasn't one of those professor groupies.  You know the ones who suck up after class and prattle on about stupid shit with them.  Too shy, I guess. I simply went to class, soaked up the knowledge, took notes, and rarely spoke.  But I did well with the grades.  One time Ted came in with our essay tests booklets and said something like, the person who did the best was "the shy little boy in the back row."  Yup, me. I will always be thankful to Drs. LaMore and Khan for for turning me on to that field of knowledge.  Not to brag, my politeness would never allow that, but I graduated cum laude and was awarded a medal at graduation for my GPA.  But it really wasn't me.  I didn't study all that hard, it was because I had teachers who took me by the hand and unlocked my mind to new thoughts and ideas.  Those blue composition test booklets that one used for essay questions were filled effortlessly not because of any great intellect, because I'm really quite a dummy, but because I was fortunate enough to find people who had a product I was eager to use.  It happens, occasionally, but I consider myself one of the lucky ones who attended a school and became alive with ideas.

The above monstrosity is a project I did for one of my theology classes.  Complete with folding-out 10 Commandment and on the other side was a bas relief map of the Holy area complete with raised mountains.  Needless to say I got an A.  I was back to IWC a few years after graduating and it was still in one of the classrooms.  When I went back a couple of years ago it was gone, finally.  Seeing me lug that thing across campus must have been fun.  I see from this picture that I took it in my room, and you can see the old record player on the left.  Maid must have had the week off, too.     

Our first lesson will reflect my first class, Logic.  Sounds imposing doesn't it?  It's not.  Or why waste it on college freshmen.  Okay, let's get started.  
  
PLATO'S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE


The Cave allegory is the famous story from The Republic. This allegory is often used in philosophy classes to represent the state of ignorance we experience until we are educated in college by leaving our own personal caves and learning about the world around us.   There is something compellingly beautiful about this treatise.  OK, here we go.


Imagine that your life consists of shadows on the wall of a cave, though to you “cave” just means the world you see from day to day.  You know nothing of the world outside since you are chained next to others who are sitting beside you on a rock that faces the cave wall. There’s a fire burning behind you, and people are moving things in front of the fire so it;s reflected or is refracted on the cave wall.  A person (or puppeteer) ,over what looks like a book and you can tell it has the outline of a book.  Oh, look, there's a a can that looks like a Miller Lite, so that must be a beer can.   But, you don’t know what the figures are--or that they even exist. Imagine you could free yourself and walk outside. What would you see? What would you think of your life inside the cave? What would that book or can of Miller Lite really look like? What would you say to those you left behind? Would they believe you if you told them they still lived in a cave? What would you think of the world, once you were free to look around? Now imagine that you are taking a philosophy class. 

Plato calls these figures chained up staring at the wall as prisoners.  One prisoner is freed and gets to look around in the cave, and after adjusting his eyes to the brightness of the fire sees what has been projected onto the wall and the people who have been moving objects around.  He is then dragged outside of the cave and he can hardly see since he is blinded by the brightness of the world.  After an adjustment period he can see trees and what they look really look like.  They aren't gray reflection on the wall, but actually green and have brown trunks.  These real objects are called Forms and represent the greatest ideal of an object.   When the prisoner's eyes have fully adjusted to the brightness, he looks to the sky (heavens) and sees the sun, and knows the sun is the cause of everything around him.  The sun represents the Form of the Good and the prisoner has attained the stage of understanding.


Philosophers and people like you and me do have the ability to free ourselves from our chains and see the reality of the world, but it's not easy.  We have to educate ourselves as much as possible and the increased knowledge will free us from our chains of the cave.


The goal of education is to frag every person as far out of the cave as possible, but we're not quite done yet.  The education and knowledge shouldn't just be there in the soul, but rather, to turn our souls toward right desires.  Once we have educated ourselves we just can't spend the rest of the time contemplating the Good, we have to head back to the Cave and help free other prisoners so they, too may see the true Forms of life.  See, now, how easy that was.  Now Socrates went on further to explain that there are four levels of thought and four levels of life.  The further we get away from the cave the higher understanding we have of each level.  For instance, ask four different people to give their idea of courage you would get four different examples.  One might say soldiers in Afghanistan, one might say corporate whistleblowers. The highest is to be a Philospher-King. To teach and educate whole nations (or republics) is the greatest end, thus freeing all people from being prisoners in a cave.


All of you loyal readers of Existing In BFE have just survived your first online philosophy class.   And you thought it was going to be tough.  Silly prisoners!