Response to "Plato" by Matthieu, group Unknown

NB: I don't know my group yet, so here is an individual submission.

In summary, Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a transcript of dialogue in which the two speakers work together to explore how "our nature is enlightened or unenlightened". Essentially, the allegory of the cave serves as the backdrop for explaining the process of enlightenment. Insofar as the idea of the "State" is concerned, the conclusion reached is that those enlightened enough to have sought the sunlight must be made to return to the cave of shadows and imitations, to act as guardians and administrators. Virtue and wisdom is the "blessings of life", not "silver and gold".

The conversation I had with myself focused on why we were reading Plato. I am already familiar with Plato and the allegory of the cave, and I'm sure most students are, and I think we're likely taking in more than just the philosophical content. For this is a text that is over 2000 years old, and yet here we are reading it in our homes in PDF format over the web, after a few clicks. I find that remarkable in itself. The style of the writing is unlike much of what we read today, but with a little effort its message is deconstructed and understood. To say this has survived the test of time might be an understatement, and (disclaimer) I'm not fully aware of its history, but it seems to me that we ought to pay special attention to such refined texts.

Consequently, 2 questions came out of the reading. They are, Why aren't our modern-day democracies more mindful of older bodies of knowledge, and, What does the survival of this text say about the modern-day media and our access to it?