Worldview from Plato's "Parable of the Cave"
...es knowledge is the highest plateau of success. It seems that to gain and understand knowledge is the ultimate goal of individual people and of humanity as a whole. The problem with a full and entire realization of knowledge is that so few achieve it, and therefore those who do are unable to relate to the ‘lesser folk’ who remain trapped in the cave. To successfully operate, to successfully relate to and help others, one must achieve the highest value in life, and then force themselves to live at a lower level. One must achieve the highest level, and then immerse his or herself in the world of those who have yet to achieve that level. 3>How should life be lived? What constitutes ‘the good life,’ and so what is good and bad behavior? >The good life is a realization of the darkness in which everyone else is living. The good life is knowledge, both the realization of and gaining of knowledge. ‘Good’ is coming out of the darkness and shadows that everyone else exists in, finding the light and recognizing the importance of it. 4>What brings fulfillment/meaning? >Fulfillment comes from a couple of things, as far as I can tell from this story. It seems that Plato believes that fulfillment and meaning come from escaping the chains and darkness, the lack of knowledge, in which the majority of humanity lives. But at the same time it seems that most of the people who remain in the cave, those who don’t struggle against the chains and rather live by guessing what the shadows mean, feel that they are fulfilled. It seems that fulfillment, or a sense of fulfillment at least, comes from being content. True fulfillment, however, and meaning can come only from escaping the cave and becoming accustomed to the sun. True meaning and fulfillment can only come when full knowledge is realized. At the same time, these people are the ones who should not be serving leadership positions, particularly heads of State, because they are unlikely to understand why those who remain in the caves (the majority of human...