"Allegory of the Cave" in the Air

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" has as its central image prisoners in a cave, who are chained to a wall and unable to turn their heads. While it is Plato's intention to use these prisoners as a metaphor for persons untutored in the theory of forms, they can also be used to apply to students coming to college. In particular, it looks at the relevance to student pilots. It discusses how potential airline pilots are unaware of the variety of ways in which to see forms and spaces from an aircraft and how once learning begins, this paradigm slowly changes to include a variety of new perspectives, which would then become accepted as truth.

From the Paper:

"When the prisoners emerge from the cave, it is to see true objects by the light of the sun rather than the limiting and deceptive light of a fire. A further issue is movement, which is enhanced by perspective and freedom. The prisoners can turn their heads once they have been freed from their chains. When a trainee pilot enters the aircraft for the first time, he or she becomes acquainted with a perspective that was not before considered. Thus the previously assumed paradigms of perceptions change in order to incorporate the new truths discovered from the air. Greater freedom of movement and thought is possible once the chains of ignorance have been broken. This is especially true in an aircraft, and also in other directions of study."

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