From the years before the 14th century, People around the world, especially in Europe believed that the Earth was flat, and that if ships were to sail too far into the ocean, they would fall off the edge of the “table,” never to be seen again. At this point in history, people would not accept any other explanation for the earth’s flat appearance and the ideology was a part of the culture. It was only when explorers challenged this ideology that people began to realize that the earth was curved. This illusion in society at the time was so embedded into history, that if anyone were to say otherwise, they would be arrested, tortured, and put to death for tyranny and other various accusations.
In the Allegory of the Cave, Socrates explains that if the man who lived in the cave were to turn back and tell his cave friends what he has discovered, that no one would believe him, and condemn him to death. This allegory directly relates to the pre-14th century belief of the flatness of the Earth. Where people were so afraid of the truth that many didn’t want to believe anything else other than what they knew, or in essence the European cave.
Many people didn’t like the idea that the earth was curved. But these similar ideologies pop up all the time. For instance, many people think, and were taught that there is only one universe. Nowadays people are challenging that ideology, and many people don’t want to believe in the thought of there being more than one universe, let alone an infinite amount of universes. Even though the punishments for being open-minded nowadays are very much less risky, People will still believe what they want to believe.
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