The Cave: An Adaptation of Plato's Allegory in Clay

An excerpt from Plato's Republic, the 'Allegory of the Cave' is a classic commentary on the human condition. It is a story of open-mindedness and the power of possibility.

Bullhead Entertainment has adapted and brought it to life by shooting thousands of high-resolution photographs of John Grigsby's wonderful stop motion animation. For more information, visit http://platosallegory.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• allegory
• animation
• bullhead
• cave
• entertainment
• philosophy
• plato

[Armistace]

They should have read the Allegory a little more closely. It's really important how angry the prisoner is at not understanding the real world. He only knows the shadows and at first the real world is the fake world to him. Not bad clay here, but for gods sakes get the shit right.

[pumpkinshellz]

Nice...Plato in play-doh

[S2Cents]

@HieronymousAnonymous Regarding the Civil War- I find this history utterly fascinating. Couple points:Good time to be interested w/ it being the 150th anniversary. Anyway the European powers outlawing slavery and the US having to split in half and butcher itself -the Europeans were content to purchase the cotton produced by slaves and for various reasons didn't need or were encouraged by circumstances to be done w/ slavery I dont know if US had to fight to end it tho

[HieronymousAnonymous]

@S2Cents also - not for nothin'... Iceland had a peaceful quasi-anarchic system (with market-based justice) from about 900AD to about 1300AD. 400 years.

By contrast: the US lasted less than ten years before it first embarked on huge internal slaughter (the expansion into native lands by force)... and less than 100 years after the Consitution was ratified the Civil War killed and maimed over a million people (60 years AFTER the UK and France had outlawed slavery peacefully).

[HieronymousAnonymous]

@S2Cents depends on your timeframe.

In 1775 most folks thought that the idea of overthrowing English colonial rule was crazy-talk.

In 1800 if you said "Men should not be slaves" or "peasants should get the vote" you were part of the lunatic fringe.

In 1900 if you said "women should get the vote"... same thing.

In 1920 if you said "Socialism is ridiculous - the USSR is doomed", 'intellectuals' thought you were ignorant.

But someone at the time said each of those things. And here we are.

[HieronymousAnonymous]

@S2Cents last but not least - dealing with external threats is relatively easy. Just be like the Swiss - they had no army, but they let would-be invaders know that invading them would be trying to swallow a porcupine (Even the Nazis didn't try). If they come anyhow... well, since WWII the Viet Cong, the Iraqi insurgency and the Afghans have humiliated 2 superpowers.

China knows that invasion-based resource acquisition is DUMB. They come to TRADE, and they're kicking the West's butt.

[S2Cents]

@HieronymousAnonymous The next question then is this: is anarchism merely an unobtainable dream? If an anarchist society cannot realistically be achieved then is spending time considering it a waste of time? In any case what CAN be done and should we not focus on workable, real solutions? etc.

[HieronymousAnonymous]

@S2Cents one thing about anarchy is that there can't be 'corruption' as we use the term - with no ruling class there are no public resources (taxes, government land, government contracts) to be diverted to cronies. There might be attempts by firms to 'BECOME' a govt - but unless they can get people to comply voluntarily, the market simply won't let that happen. Folks think monopolies will take over - but most monopoly power is CAUSED by government policy favours.

[HieronymousAnonymous]

@S2Cents that's the jillion-dollar question: in the past whenever the political class has finally driven any society into a ditch, the tendency is for the society to replace a now-acknowledged set of crooks (the Bourbons in France; the English Crown in the American colonies) with a self-styled 'saviour set' (e.g., the "Founding Fathers").

BUT this sets up a system that eventually becomes EXACTLY like the one being replaced. Always. Parasites gotta parasite, I guess.

[S2Cents]

-eXternal enemies- I meant. in my reply. And so?

[S2Cents]

@HieronymousAnonymous I like this. But how could this anarchist society actually be brought about? And if this system were achieved, how could it realistically be maintained and not overthrown itself by corruption from within and/or eternal enemies?

[HieronymousAnonymous]

@S2Cents Oops - typo.

My previous response should read "CONTRACTs are enforced through competitive dispute-resolution organisations rather than monopoly courts.", not "CONTACTs... etc"