David McAnulty's Archive

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This is an interesting video that examines the movie the Matrix as a modern allegory with essentially the same message as that of Plato’s famous allegory of the cave.  The question raised is about the limits of knowledge, of what we can be sure of.  Can we trust what our senses and our perceptions tell us?  Plato obviously thought that it was only in the realm of pure reason that one could discern truth, or more precisely “remember” the pure forms or ideas among which the immortal soul lived before being implanted in the body.

I found Cornel West commentary particularly interesting that “one ought to be suspicious of all forms of authority” which demand obedience, since truth is elusive and relative.  Presumably Plato’s point was that absolute truth–or pure forms (“ideas” would be our understanding of that term)–does exist and that it is our senses (experience) that keep us in the cave, while reason leads us out of the cave to recover truth.  And in fact, most religious and scientific authorities, who are equally concerned with absolute truth, the former via revelation and the latter via methodology, become rather dogmatic about truth and demand “obedience” if you will.  In terms of papal authority, Dawkins among his followers might rival Benedict among his, no?

Plato himself thought that it was kings and philosophers who were capable of leading through reason, they were the corollaries of today’s priests and scientists.  So, while the allegory of the cave finds itself quite current and at home in our post-modern world with its questioning of the reality of the world “as we see it”, the implications of the allegory might differ dramatically.  The movie The Matrix seems to point to heroic individualism as the way out of the cave.  An idea we owe to the Enlightement, but perhaps not quite the utopian Kallipolis that Plato had in mind?  Or maybe Neo is a philosopher… albeit an action hero philosopher…  Did Plato believe in Warrior-Philosophers?

David Deutsch: A new way to explain explanation

History of Theories in Psychology is a capstone class requiring students to not only become familiar with the intellectual history of our field, including leading thinkers, major theories, landmark studies and recurring debates, but also to be able to think critically, to form personal opinions, to be able to compare and contrast the various schools of thought, to wrestle themselves with the timeless questions.  What is consciousness?  Is man’s comportment determined or freely chosen?  How are the body and mind related?  What is the nature of scientific inquiry?  Are humans basically rational or irrational?  Is nature or nurture the primary influence on behavior?

Welcome to our class blog where, in coming weeks, you will be posting comments, brief essays, links, media relating to the class, as well as commenting on your peers’ posts.  The purpose of the blog is to provide interaction and dialogue outside the classroom and encourage students to use the vast resources of the internet to augment and enrich our class content.  I look forward to learning from you and benefiting from each one of your unique perspectives.

Let the writing begin!…  and don’t worry, it’s only a blog, not your ultimate and final statement of your beliefs and personhood!  Don’t be too critical of your thoughts or writing.  Take a chance and share them!