Plato and Media Bias

Term Paper # 101687

Communication > Journalism
Communication > Mass Media
Philosophy > Ancient Greek

This philosophical study analyzes Plato's "Cave Allegory" in relation to the conservative modern media.

1,567 words () | 5 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper explains how Plato's cave allegory in "The Republic" provides a symbolic view of the way media distorts the truth. The paper discusses how the neo-conservative religious values of American journalism are often far from the truth. The paper shows how this reveals a politically subjective media elite system that generates information benefiting fundamentalist American elites.

From the Paper:

"In the Republic, Plato's Cave Allegory is a lesson in the fundamental principles of perception and knowledge that Plato imparts on the reader. In the first stage, the prisoners in the story have been chained to a cave since birth, and have no idea as to what is real and what is not. Behind the prisoners there are fires that project shadows on the wall of the cave, which represent a mere replica of reality. In the second stage, the prisoner was to escape and see the fire, he or she would be blinded. Furthermore, if the prisoner was taken up to the sunlight, they would also be blinded by the "truth" that would be invariably too bright for them to survive. The third stage has the prisoner returning to the cave simply because he or she cannot possibly comprehend the absolute "truth" because it is incomprehensible to the human mind and its faculties."

Sample of Sources Used:

Calhoun, Craig. Classical Sociological Theory. London: Blackwell, 2002.
Packer, George. "Letter from Baghdad: War After the War." 2003. New York Times Online. 7 February, 2007. <http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/031124fa_fact1_g>
Plato. "The Republic--Book VII." 2006. The Athenaeum Library of Philosophy. 12 February, 2007. <http://evansexperientialism.freewebspace.com/plato_republic07.htm>
Rushdie, Salaman. November 2001: Not About Islam?
Wastell, David. "Bush Speech Crafted to Unify Hawks and Doves in Cabinet." 2001. Telegraph.co.uk. 12 February, 2007. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/23/wbush23.xml>