1. The main agent of the story The Myth of the Cave is Plato. Plato also happens to be the writer of this story. Based on the reading it can be interpreted that Plato is a philosopher and believes in open-mindedness.
2. Plato’s argument is that man must amass knowledge by being open minded, only then can he truly work towards the true understanding of “the good”. The good in this case is the ability to make your own judgments and decisions and allow yourself to govern your life. By publishing this, Plato hoped to get people to think on their own and begin to question things and not just accept whatever is presented to them.3. The argument is made using the prisoners.
The prisoners being trapped and forced to watch the shadows is representative of the controlling government of Plato’s time. At the time, people were forced to believe everything that the government told them, and questioning their beliefs could have resulted in death. The action of the prisoner coming out of the cave and discovering what is beyond it is seen as man acquiring knowledge and beginning to use his own judgment. This Plato describes is when one can really begin to understand “the good”.4. The author’s writing style is persuasive and pedagogical.
The whole story is written as a dialogue between Socrates and his brother Glaucon. The author uses the allegory of the cave to teach readers his philosophy on open-mindedness.5. I concur with the author’s argument in this case. I have no suggestions as to how his argument can be strengthened.
