The Dilemma of the Ring

The digital exhibition “The Dilemma of the Ring” is aimed at students of the 5th and 6th grade of elementary school. School visits to the exhibition take place through a specially designed educational programme that offers an experience of approaching the ideas of ancient greek philosophy. The students are guided by a digital entity, which needs their help with a very important problem. She wants to understand how we humans make decisions. All digital exhibits are interactive and allow students to take action, think, discuss and make choices. Through interaction with the digital exhibits, they will understand the value of philosophical contemplation and how through it we can describe, understand, discuss and attempt to solve problems.

The main theme of the educational programme is the Ring of Gyges, the emblematic myth from Plato’s Republic. The students have to find the entrance to the cave where the ring is kept, face the challenge posed by Socrates and Glaucon, then discuss as a group how to use the ring in order to solve a problem, and finally think about how to manage the question posed by the digital guide in the exhibition. This problem will become a dilemma related to the life of Socrates and each student will have to find an answer.