The Eye of the Mind (Essay Sample)

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The Eye of the Mind
What is the purpose of philosophy? Wittgenstein simply answered this question. He said that the value of philosophy lay in showing the fly the way out of the bottle. The fly is aware of the entire world around it, yet it still cannot access it. Contrary to what is expected, it keeps hitting the glass walls since it does not understand the barriers to its freedom. Although the barriers show it so much, the fly’s senses do not reveal the way out of the bottle that is the path to freedom (Plato 79). This was just an analogy that emphasized on the nature of reality and how we come to know it. It is for this reason that we wish to conduct research on people’s perceptions of reality and truth.
In Plato’s allegory about the prisoners, he talked about the inmates viewing the shadows on the walls as their only reality. Therefore, these prisoners remained bound by their senses to empirical necessity (Plato 112). Philosophy can, therefore, be regarded as an illumination of the real world by the sun as opposed to the cave illusions. Many people are satisfied with the euphoric ignorance of partial knowledge. It is this ignorance that renders people into mediocrity and, consequently, not achieving one's full potential in life. Knowledge allows people to live more fulfilling lives. This perspective of freedom and lack thereof, can also be viewed from a marriage perspective. This is whereby couples agree to a state of imprisonment since they are tied down to one partner, and one member of the couple plays the role of the prisoner or prison guard. This role is so since he or she either forces or allows the other to play the reciprocal role in the relationship (Zimbardo 743).
Nevertheless, knowledge can be a cause of pain, misery and anguish. If people were aware of what goes on behind the scenes of the corporations, governments and systems that control the world, there would be an inevitable state of tension. This can even be a factor as to why people are contented with the world of illusion since individuals never attempt to question the current state of affairs. However, these questions disturb them at one point or another in their lives. Most persons usually assimilate into the world of the senses and, therefore, cannot comprehend a world of richer possibilities beyond their senses. This was the point that Plato was trying to put across in the allegory of the cave.
In addition, there is usually a classical collision between the ignorant people and the enlightened. Both of these groups try to tempt each other with their different ways of life. A life of blissful ignorance cannot be considered a life at all. A life that is entirely based on the senses and is being run by purposes and imperatives that are external to one is not a life worth living. Nevertheless, the people who are contented with their ignorance see nothing wrong in their life, and if they did, philosophers would be rendered useless. This, therefore, brings about the paradox ...