Sec14 Grp2 Summary

Hello again!

Today's class went by much better. A good chunk of us had done some mild research on our assigned philosopher, Plato, and had some interesting things to say about him. For the first ten minutes we managed a bit of discussion - A few more of us had bought laptops and were doing some on-site research. We briefly discussed some of the more important parts - The cave allegory, Plato's Republic, and his relationship with Socrates to name a few.

Discussion reached an eventual halt until Mr. Oliver came around and expanded upon some things we hadn't considered, such as Plato possibly mis-interpreting Socrates or flat-out misquoting him to serve his purposes. Again, we got into an active discussion which died out quite a bit later. Around the last fifteen minutes we discovered a facet of philosophy that interested us all - politics. However, with the sheer force of maturity, we violated the laws of causality and had a rational discussion about it.

I think I'm finally understanding a bit more of what Philosophy is, and why "Weltanschauung" is likely the best single word for it - Plato's philosophy seemed to be the collection of all his morals, ethics, and deep thought-provoking questions on top of how he believed their application could make the world a better place. Using this logic, one could easily explain how Philosophy has weaved its way into not many but each and every subject of education.

However, some fact-checking may be required on our part. Mr. Oliver had said that children were separated by class during infancy in "The Republic" while conflicting sources had claimed that each child should be treated the same. Similarly, he also did not know about Plato supposedly being sold into slavery. I'm going to do some independent research in my free time, and I hope you do too.

In order to keep schedule with the MW Philosophy class who did not meet on Labor Day, we will be discussing the same topic on Thursday. I hope we do our fact-checking and have a better idea of Plato's life when we re-convene. In the meantime, let's go ahead and submit our factual and discussion questions. I'll start, unless one of you crafty whippersnappers has found a way to reply to a yet-unposted blog.

Factual: What roles did Philosophers play in Plato's Republic?

Discussion: Do you think the cave allegory is at all represented in science or religion? How do you think Socrates or Aristotle would act if they were the lone person to see the "light"?

I am very much enjoying this group, and you all seem like a friendly bunch. I do believe I am going to enjoy this class.

Best wishes,
Jonathan