(September 18, 2012 at 7:08 pm)Darkstar Wrote: All right, I'll give you as much to say that theists are able to look away from doctrine freely, in a literal sense. The allegory of the cave is not a literal interpretation, but I agree with your idea that we are able to look away from doctrine if we so choose. In the cave, the chains imply that the prisoners cannot see the truth no mater how hard they try. This interpretation is not applicable to today's world, as you stated, because we can see the truth.
My point about Zeus and Posiedon was to refer to a time when humans really didn't know the truth. In the allegory, the man returns to the cave, but the cave dwellers don't believe him. However, in modern society, the chains are much less physical than metaphorical. The theists can leave the cave, but they don't. The metaphorical chains are the desire to believe. Correct me if I am wrong, but I would assume that most theists want god and heaven to exist. Some of them may ignore atheistic arguments because they have don't want to believe that he isn't real. I'm sure that there are many theists who have other reasons for believing, and I'm not saying that the allegory applies to all theists, but at least to some. The cave refers to the times when religion originated, so when they base their belief in a diety off of a religion created by dwellers of the cave, it makes it seem like they are still in the cave themselves, in a sense.
Two points.
Firstly, I got your point about the chains being metaphorical. Something like people being bound by the chains of their desire for god and an afterlife. My objection to that comes from the fact that atheists aren't necessarily free from those chains either. I'm sure there are atheists who'd find it more comfortable to believe that there is someone up there looking out for them or who find the idea of cessation of their existence terrifying. Which is why, I just don't see those chains being strong enough to keep one from truth. Not unless it's not so much that they are bound by their desires but they don't want to let go either.
Secondly, I think the same concept applies to the ancient world as well. For example, out of the Hindu schools of philosophy of ancient India, quite a few of them were atheistic. Which means, even in times of Zeus and Poseidon, there were people who were capable of thinking rationally - who were capable of looking away from the shadows and seeing the world as it is. So the principle of self-confinement applied as much then as it does today.
