Thinking Outside the Box

Our thinking really isn’t something that we think about. No attention is paid to the validity of the things accepted as fact or to if upon further evaluation there is more to be learned. There are things that limit our thinking; and those are the things that Plato and Sartre both try to evaluate.

                In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave there are prisoners whose reality is created by others, and they are locked in place, and the only way to see for themselves what is out there is to break free, brave the unfamiliar sunlight and have the will to leave the cave they feel so safe in, then they can know reality. This tells a lot about how Plato thinks about how others think, there is the commonly accepted thing, that everyone feels safe accepting; but that isn’t necessarily the truth. And that it takes a special kind of person who can be brave enough to go away from the crowd and the comfort of these thoughts and develop their own.  Plato’s use of metaphors is how he effectively conveys his ideas about thinking, and Sartre isn’t all too different in his ways.

                Sartre’s “No Exit” follows three people who are damned to Hell; but is isn’t a normal Hell, they are in a normal room with others, at first they don’t think it will be so bad. Then they began to loathe each other, and they are unable to rest, so they are forced to live with each other all of the time, leading to Sartre’s most famous quote, “people are hell.” Sartre sees others as the limitations to our thinking, similar to Plato. There is also another scene that struck me, where the door opens, but they are too stubborn to go through the door possibly being freed.  Though it is different from The Cave, it has some striking similarities.

                Plato’s prisoners are able to leave the cave, but choose not to, because they are too afraid of what might be out there, just as the visitors in “No Exit” who don’t leave the room because they are too stubborn. These are two things that can hold back thought. Then there is the big thing, which is others; both of the stories have people what is holding back the growth and mental freedom of them. Though Plato and Sartre are different in their philosophical views and from completely different eras, they both saw what can hold back people from thinking.