Plato's Allegory of the Cave

This allegory is learned at the beginning of any course on philosophy and raises many interpretations and discussions.

The Allegory of the Cave

"Plato recognized that the picture of the Divided Line may be difficult for many of us to understand. Although it accurately represents the different levels of reality and corresponding degrees of knowledge, there is a sense in which one cannot appreciate its full significance without first having achieved the highest level. So, for the benefit of those of us who are still learning but would like to grasp what he is talking about, Plato offered a simpler story in which each of the same structural components appears in a way that we can all comprehend at our own level. This is the Allegory of the Cave.

Suppose that there is a group of human beings who have lived their entire lives trapped in a subterranean chamber lit by a large fire behind them. Chained in place, these cave-dwellers can see nothing but shadows (of their own bodies and of other things) projected on a flat wall in front of them. Some of these people will be content to do no more than notice the play of light and shadow, while the more clever among them will become highly skilled observers of the patterns that most regularly occur. In both cases, however, they cannot truly comprehend what they see, since they are prevented from grasping its true source and nature. (Republic 514a)

Now suppose that one of these human beings manages to break the chains, climb through the torturous passage to the surface, and escape the cave. With eyes accustomed only to the dim light of the former habitation, this individual will at first be blinded by the brightness of the surface world, able to look only upon the shadows and reflections of the real world. But after some time and effort, the former cave-dweller will become able to appreciate the full variety of the newly-discovered world, looking at trees, mountains, and (eventually) the sun itself.

Finally, suppose that this escapee returns to the cave, trying to persuade its inhabitants that there is another, better, more real world than the one in which they have so long been content to dwell. They are unlikely to be impressed by the pleas of this extraordinary individual, Plato noted, especially since their former companion, having travelled to the bright surface world, is now inept and clumsy in the dim realm of the cave. Nevertheless, it would have been in the best interest of these residents of the cave to entrust their lives to the one enlightened member of their company, whose acquaintance with other things is a unique qualification for genuine knowledge.

Plato seriously intended this allegory as a representation of the state of ordinary human existence. We, like the people raised in a cave, are trapped in a world of impermanence and partiality, the realm of sensible objects. Entranced by the particular and immediate experiences these things provide, we are unlikely to appreciate the declarations of philosophers, the few among us who, like the escapee, have made the effort to achieve eternal knowledge of the permanent forms. But, like them, it would serve us best if we were to follow this guidance, discipline our own minds, and seek an accurate understanding of the highest objects of human contemplation."

Source: Philosophy pages.

Advertising like in the 50s

This is how Facebook and Youtube would be at the magazines of the 50s.

More doctors smoke Camels

Once doctors advertised cigarettes. What made them stop? Why did they ever start? Why do

physicians advertise?

John H. Twachtman's Winter Harmony explained by Christopher Volpe

Right: Winter Harmony,1890-1900, by John H. Twachtman

Left: detail

I just came across with Christopher Volpe's blog and I'm amazed by the way he make us "see" and "feel" a painting. Excerpts of what he wrote about "Winter Harmony" by John H. Twachtman:

"Twachtman's "Winter Harmony" employs a circular composition to keep the eye moving throughout. But that's not what earned this painting its more or less permanent place in history. The entire thing is a luminous riot of alternating currents - familiar scenery and an extraordinary scene, warm and cool colors, rounded horizontal and straight vertical lines, all playing counterpoint to each other within the larger, circular composition that keeps the eye moving and jumping all over the canvas until the naked lyrical miracle of the thing near knocks you out (!)"

"This is vibrant work. In person, it provoked an old feeling of mine that arises from time to time. It happens when I'm confronted by a work of art of such beauty that I can almost see it flickering between ideality and the real. Sorry if that sounds too mystical. It's a nameless, somehow simultaneously jubilant and melancholy feeling that has something to do with being in the presence of humanity's potential for understanding and achievement despite the brutal indifference of nature and the relentless force of time."

Read the whole article here. and take a look at Chirstopher's blog.

Have a nice weekend.

Sketching life of Ken Foster 2: The Half-a-House

I have published two sketches by Ken Foster here. This is a project he is working and he tells the story of the house:

"The Half-a-House

This is an interesting little project I am working on in Rockport, Maine. This house use to be a full cape but about 30 years ago (so the story goes) two brothers inherited the house and decided to split it - literally. One brother took his half of the house across town and the other one lived here. It's less than 1000 SF and either needs to be torn down or completely renovated." (keep reading here)

"This sketch was done in about 2 hours and I hit the undo button a lot! Once I was happy with it, I brought it into Artrage for some final tweaks. I wish the renovation was going to be that easy!" Ken Foster

I like the sketch, the story and keep thinking about the brother caring half of the house across town.

Fun: The Four Dogs

There were four dogs but they called their friends to take care of the cat.

Have a great month!

Egyptian art: tomb of Nakht

Time only made changes but we can see all Egyptian art that was done centuries ago.

Thomas Baker did a great reconstruction of the Three musicians, left picture, and this is part of his text:

A Concert for All Eternity

"In this painting from the 18th Dynasty tomb of Nakht, part of a banquet scene, a strolling lute player steps casually between two other musicians playing a double flute and a harp. This mural is remarkably naturalistic for a formal ancient Egyptian painting, when most such art was uniformly rigid and stylistic. By this period of human history, the realistic art of earlier millennia, such as the animals seen in prehistoric cave paintings and the humans in the Saharan rock art (that I also reproduced), had given way to stiff symbolism in the official art of dynastic Egypt. However, we can see in the figures of this particular mural some rudimentary shading and other characteristics that would eventually progress to truly natural representation of the human form in later Greek and Roman times and beyond. In this example of ancient Egyptian art we sense naturalism stirring, yearning to break free of symbolism. (keep reading here)"

The right picture is a Banquet scene at the same tomb.

Iranian art XVII century: wall painting

These are two wall paintings done at the XVII century at the Hasht-Behesht Palace ("Palace of the 8 heavens"). Musicians at the right and dancers at the left. Music and dancing makes a great Sunday. The history of art was always told taking Europe and the centre with few references of other cultures. Now it has been changing to a global approach. Two good examples are the books Mirror of the World by Julian Bell, 2007, 496pp, and A World History of Art by John Fleming and Hugh Honour, 1982.

Lybia: Stop massacring your own people

This is what I concluded following analysis by the mainstream media:

I just listened to Muammar Gaddafi's speech. Although he looks like a caricature of a dictator his intentions are real. He wants a bloodshed in the name of his own power. What is being done at Libya are crimes against humanity and it has to stop, but it has to stop now. Some Lybians are fleeing their country fearing more violence while others stay and keep protesting. "NO ONE IS FREE WHEN OTHERS ARE OPPRESSED" Libya for Libyans! NATO STOP BOMBING LIBYA

This is the truth: Please click at this to see what is really happening in Libya and I am sorry for the mistake. This was the first time I saw him speaking and everything was edited to portray him as the monster as they always did. Update: 8/22 2011 Today Qaddafi's compound was conquered after six months of instability after the invasion of Libya by NATO. Qaddafi was not there and his whereabouts is unknown and if what was being done by him were crimes against humanity what NATO did is considered the same. Libya for Libyans is still to conquer and it seems that it is not near even if Qaddafi is no longer the leader. Sad world!

Egypt: a prayer for the protesters

Tomorrow those young people will be at the Tahir Square, Cairo, as well as at other places. I talked to some Egyptians and they...
I don't have energy to write about it now. I will pray for the protesters. Whenever a revolution doesn't succeed humankind is affected. We are all affected when people express their views and are treated this way.
Update: September,1
Please read this post if you're interested in understanding the Arab Spring and the Egyptian revolution.

Thank you all my blog friends!

Click at the music first. This is the way I found to thank all the bloggers that inspired me to keep going and showed me many great things. Thank you all!

I thank you for the things you have shown me Thank you for the love of my life So far anyway now it’s really really over O God I really thank you baby Most of all I thank you for your love Like good people should do anyway I thank you I really thank you All of my life I really thank you My souvenirs I hold them and remember All the days for the rest of my life Truth is I miss you in all the ways you will imagine See me feel me I wanna say .THANK YOU ALL!. Music: Thank you by Simply Red: I like Mick Hucknall's powerful voice and many of the songs he did cause they unite people.

George Segal and Stephen Hansen: on women

Right: High Maintenance, 2003 by Stephen Hansen

Left: The Curtain, 1974, by George Segal

Gauguin's painting on a wraparound

I came across with this photography that Alan D. Hull shot during his travel to French Polynesia where Gauguin lived after leaving behind his family.

It is a pareo, a wraparound used by women.

I love this Gauguin painting and I think that it is a very beautiful work. I would hang it at my wall if I had it.

Left: Copyright © 2000 by Alan D. Hull

Happy New Year!

I want to wish you all a very good year. I want to thank all the people who came to this blog and helped me keep doing it. I met many amazing people and I will keep meeting along this year.

For the moment I still have to take care of my back so I will not post for a while.

Please, take this time to take a look at the previous posts.

One of the problems with blogs is that only the first page are easy to watch and we never have enough time to see the previous posts.

Choose a month, a year or the labels... I did 549 posts and all of them were a pleasure to do.

HAPPY 2011!

Fall in Colorado by Mari

I just found some amazing pictures Mari at 365 Days is taking of this fall in Colorado. I was impressed by the colours and hues of yellow of some photos when this one appeared. It reminded me of the colours of Klim't work below.

I'm having back problems so I believe I will have to stop blogging for a while. I cannot sat too long at this chair and using the computer is worsening the problem. I should have already stopped last month.

So this picture to enchant you. Thank you Mari!

Update: The photo was taken in Michigan as Mari corrected at a comment.

Gustav Klimt beyond The Kiss

I remember when the first search engineer appeared and the few answers we had.

It is amazing that now we are able to find many paintings of an artist, of course still far to have all works of each one, but I believe that in the future we will be able to see all 200 works Gustav Klimt left and much more.

Klimt's most famous oeuvre is The Kiss* and comparing his work having as much as we can would be great.

"Whoever wants to know something about me -- as an artist, the only notable thing -- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try to see in them what I am and what I want to do."

Gustav Klimt

*The Artchive was the first initiative to create a database of paintings on the WWW and I remember when it's founder Mark Harden had to start putting advertisements to continue the project.

Fun: Jump! Go ahead and jump.

Have a great weekend! Source: here.

Happy Thanksgiving

The girl and the woman going their way

I came across with Erik van Elven's blog and I loved the painting he did of this young lady, his daughter. I browsed around the blog and from there I went to visit Vicki Shuck's blog and did chose the "Purple boots" because is depicts a woman from the back going her way just like the girl.

(click at the images to enlarge)

The Little Prince and the Boa constrictor drawing

"Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal.

Here is a copy of the drawing:

In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to

lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot air-planes."

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupéry who also did the illustrations, was published in 1943 and was translated to many languages. I believe that many of us had this book on the hands for a while when we were a child. This is part, at the beginning is still on my mind.