Around 2 weeks ago I read The Allegory of the Cave for the first time and it really reminded me of the essay we read the first week about information versus knowledge. If you have never heard of The Allegory of the Cave it is an essay written by Plato about a dialogue between Socrates and Plato’s brother Glaucon. To boil it down, Socrates presents this image where there are people in a cave and they are facing a wall(you can see the image for reference). They only see shadows on the wall they are facing so that is all they know. One person leaves leaves the cave and experiences what the world is actually like; that it is more than shadows on a cave wall. The question that presents itself at the end of the essay is: does the person who now has this extensive knowledge of the outside world have the obligation to pull the others out of the cave?
I think of what the people in the cave are receiving as information. They see very little and can think about it, but it may be difficult to comprehend and digest all of this information without the bigger picture. Those who have left the cave are those who are gaining true knowledge. They know both sides and they have the opportunity to fully acknowledge this information and make it a part of who they are, which would make it easier to disseminate. As Ben Franklin Scholars we have our areas of information, or unenlightenment, but as a cohort it should be our goal and mission to attempt to spread knowledge. We want to not just take in what we see, but absorb it and learn from it.
In relation to the essay we have to think if those of us who have knowledge have the obligation to bring others out of the darkness of information into the light of knowledge. In my opinion I believe that they should feel this moral obligation. I think back on Apollo and wonder if the Germans or Canadians that added knowledge to the process hadn’t existed, would our program ever had made it? Although they were put in a position that they needed to contribute, in the pursuit of global success, I feel like they should have worked together regardless. The argument of knowledge vs information is a never ending topic and in such a way, should be continuously addressed.