Hello Philosophy!
This is an assignment that will have you combine religion and philosophy as it applies to the film adaptation of The Giver. I'll give you instructions in the next few days on how to submit your essay. Email me if you have any questions. You can also check in with me on Teams during our scheduled class time.
Part 1: In a well crafted essay, please respond to the prompt below.
Compare the dilemma of the prisoner in Plato's Cave Allegory with the dilemma of the unenlightened person in Buddhist thought. In each case, answer the following questions: (1) What is the source of the problem? (2) What is the solution to the problem? (3) Why is there a dilemma?
Part 2: Please respond to the three questions below in essay form.
I'd like you to watch the movie The Giver. Many of you read the novel by Lois Lowry in middle school. It was adapted to the big screen in 2014.
- How would the Buddha interpret The Giver in answering the same questions in Part 1 above? Is it possible through social engineering and social control to end human suffering and if so would you want to? Would you be willing to give up your freedom of conscience, thought, and agency to the "State" to never have to suffer again?
- Having read the Cave Allegory, how would Plato interpret The Giver in answering the same three questions in part 1? In a few paragraphs, compare and contrast the Cave Allegory and Plato's Theory of Forms with The Giver.
- Finally, some have said that human beings have defined their existence and reality by attempting to transcend suffering. Remember Agent Smith in The Matrix when he's trying to hack into the mind of Morpheus to gain the access codes to Zion? It's the defining aspect of human existence. In other words, we wouldn't have Buddhism, Christianity, Neo-Platonism, Marxism/Communism, Psychoanalysis, and the list goes on and on without suffering. Do you agree or disagree that suffering is what has led to the creation of religion, philosophy, and these other Meta-Narratives that attempt to put the human condition (suffering and death) into a meaningful and purposeful context? "They are all response to human suffering and death" (Freud). Do you think life would life lack meaning and purpose without suffering? Please reference The Giver too.
Please read the PDFs in this order for review.
1. Why Philosophy - Pre-Socratics, etc.
2. Why Philosophy and Plato's Cave Allegory
3. Reality and Being - Up through Plato
4. Buddhism - Reality as Interdependence
6. Then watch mp4s on The Buddha and Plato's Cave Allegory
7. Next watch the two Crash Course videos below. I've pasted the links. The one on Plato ties in Inception which is really nice.
8. Finally, watch The Giver and enjoy with some buttered popcorn.
Happy Philosophizing!
Mr. Stoddart
Crash Course: Plato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV-8YsyghbU&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMybYIHKR&t=0s
