Week 2 in the Sig Series

This week presented some different challenges than the previous week. At least it did for me anyway as I can’t speak for the rest of my classmates. I found most of the assigned readings to be very complicated and confusing, especially the two written by Plato. I actually had to read some of the stories twice just to try and get a better idea of what the purpose and meaning of the story was. I think there were some that I was able to grasp a little better, but others still remain a bit hazy. I am hoping that after reading the posts of other students I will be able to get a better understanding of at least some of the stories.

The biggest challenge by far had to be writing the essay on Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. I really did not understand this story at first. It took three times of reading it and researching outside sources before I was able to get a glimpse of what he was talking about. I think part of the problem for me is that it seems like he is “beating around the bush” when telling the story. The vocabulary is not exactly easy to understand because of the way in which the words are used. I realize that this was written in 360 B.C., but I found myself saying, “come on and just say it already”. Because I had difficulty understanding the meaning of the story it was hard to write the essay. I read it again today and I’m not sure that I was very clear in my writing. I understand it because it was my thoughts, but I can’t be certain that another person would be able to interpret the meaning. Even though I read my essay a number of times beforehand, I probably should have waited to submit it until I had a chance to really absorb the information.

All in all, the reading was again very interesting. I try not to hold judgment on anyone, especially when they aren’t around to defend their view, but there was one story in particular that I did not agree with. The excerpt from Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Antichrist was in conflict with my own personal beliefs, but I respect his point of view. My posting for the week was on this story so I won’t get into it too much. I may have interpreted it entirely wrong so I’m looking forward to seeing what other students have to say about. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m wrong if that is the case.