Reflecting on the current political atmosphere, the increasing incidents of hate speech and hate crimes, and the rampant mass shootings in the United States inevitably requires educators to consider ways to confront the divisive political zeitgeist and to help students recognize the intricate layers of political life. It is not surprising that a…

The allegory of the cave illustrates one of the central problems in philosophy: the gap between reality as it appears to be and the reality in itself. The allegory of prisoners in the cave, as opposed to being free out of the cave, symbolizes the gap between illusion and truth--between the thing and the thing in itself. The moment of getting out…