"Thinking Outside the Box"

Satre and Plato are from two different eras, but have similar views and outlooks on people and how they think. The people you surround yourself with can tell you whatever you want. You have the choice to accept these facts they tell you or actually take the initiative and want to learn the truth. The Allegory of the Cave describes the limitations on our thinking as ultimately a fear of change. For one to think freely, they must first break free from their shackles and break through that tough period and the hardships that come with it. Then they must allow themselves to figure out their own beliefs and views on the world and everything in it. Plato did not believe that thinking freely was exactly the easiest thing to do, but once you are able to realize that everything you have been told is not always correct and to find out for yourself, you will then attain knowledge. He uses to shadows on the wall to represent what we think is reality. You must figure out for yourself what reality is and is not and what is real and what is deceiving.


In Sartre’s “No Exit”, he describes Hell as a normal room that you are locked in with people that you would not get along with. He even states that “people are Hell.” In this, he believes, like Plato, that what truly constrains our thoughts are others. People can say whatever they want or feel the need to. So, people need to hold themselves accountable for discovering their own beliefs and facts and not just accept what they hear from others as fact.