[struggle]

It's not that I didnt understand it. If I didnt I couldnt lie my way out of philosophy and logic 110. It's just the basis of the whole matter that disturbed me. Even though Aristotle explores metaphysics, he does in a convincing way that seems to be bounded to some kind of truth. The part of the republic that deals with the "ideals" simply was distasteful. I find that many student do not read the whole thing and get the "cave story" spit out to them by a junior college professor and see it as some kind of enlightenment. I thought that plato was a good guy that meant well, but compared to aristotle, he uses rationalism in excess and no empiricism at all. All that was 5 years ago anyway, and all this rushing around teaching, translating, and other things has probably left the whole world un-contextualized.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

The part of the republic that deals with the "ideals" simply was distasteful. I find that many student do not read the whole thing and get the "cave story" spit out to them by a junior college professor and see it as some kind of enlightenment. I thought that plato was a good guy that meant well, but compared to aristotle, he uses rationalism in excess and no empiricism at all.

Well said. I just hate to hear about The Republic as a political text, which, while it is, is not the best of Plato's works at discussing Political Philosophy, and is not nearly as good as Aristotle's Politics. Either way, there have been greater texts since then (Locke, anyone?)
Anyway, as regards the Allegory of the Cave, did you realize when you saw 'The Matrix', that they essentially ripped that off from Plato?
Quite blatantly, I might point out.