Iceberg Ahead!

   I think it is safe to say that pretty much everybody has heard the phrase "Life is like an iceberg, most of the important stuff is under the surface". I had always attributed this saying to people meaning that all the things that make up a humans attitude and personality were inside their head, not just their appearance. This attribution might be a good one that is obviously applicable, I did not realize that there are philosophical arguments that say this also works for life and education.
  Throughout the course of the Mythology class, I have learned that every action has a precedent behind it that is most likely mythological in nature (like wiping your eyes on your apron). Upon further investigation, I found a Socratic idea that is similar to the iceberg principle. Socrate's believes in something called anamnesis. The basic tenants are that everything that we know as an individual and as a species is already known to us, all we have to do is rediscover that knowledge. The way that this could happen deals with the idea of a soul. Everyone has a soul that is eternal and has be reincarnated though time into different people. This soul is constantly learning and retaining everything that has happened to it, so therefore, all the knowledge through the ages is already inside us. The reason that we cannot remember the information is because at birth, the initial shock startles us into forgetting. With this in mind, the process of learning is really a process of rediscovering what is "under the surface" already. Socrates saw himself as a midwife aiding in the birth of knowledge that is already in the student, instead of a teacher.
   I found this to be very interesting and I really enjoyed re-learning about it!

The Death of Socrates, 1787, Oil on Canvas, Jacques-Louis David