In this post I'll show you how 'Flowers for Algernon' is structured according to Plato's cave allegory and the divided line in the Republic.
Author: diotimasladder
Nearly Lost Interview with Rebecca Goldstein
I thank you for the lovely and thoughtful review of Plato at the Googleplex. I'm under a lot of time pressure right now, but I couldn't avoid answering your thoughtful questions. Please forgive the inadequacy of the too-brief answers. —Sincerely, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
Plato’s Divided Line
Fantastic work on the mathematical features of Plato’s Divided line over at Logos Con Carne——using ancient methods!
Recently my friend Tina, who writes the blog Diotima’s Ladder, asked me if I could help her with a diagram for her novel. (Apparently all the math posts I’ve written gave her ideas about my math and geometry skills!)
What she was looking for involved Plato’s Divided Line, an analogy from his runaway bestseller, the Republic (see her post Plato’s Divided Line and Cave Allegory for an explanation; I’m not going to go into it much here). The goal is a geometric diagram proving that the middle two segments (of four) must be equal in length.
This post explores and explains what I came up with.
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Plato’s Divided Line and Cave Allegory
After all this time blogging, I can't believe I haven't written about Plato's divided line analogy, the cave allegory's sophisticated cousin. It's deep, it's mystifying, it's what makes The Republic The Republic. I don't plan to explain the divided line in a scholarly fashion—there's plenty of that kind of thing around. In other words, I'm … Continue reading Plato’s Divided Line and Cave Allegory
Happy 2022!
A few hours to go until the new year... To be honest, I don't know how much of this one I'll remember later on down the road, as I'm not particularly good at recalling events in time. (I'm the one who shows up to your doorstep the day after your party holding out a bottle … Continue reading Happy 2022!
Diotima's Ladder 