An Open Mind is Life Essential
In pursuing the life of being a well-educated individual, one must allow themselves to be exposed to new and abnormal encounters. There are benefits of being a person that is both open minded and close-minded. Usually a person who can balance the two has the mindset of being inspired and motivated by what they may discover that interests them but also are strong minded enough to deny some opinion that they disagree with. However, a person whose closed mindedness outweighs them being open-mindedness can hinder their progress in becoming more educated. Someone who is more open minded would not only benefit from new ideas and experiences but also those ideas and experiences can help that individual learn more about themselves that they did not once know. Ken Fields wrote in his article on “Pros and Cons of being Open-minded,” “An open mind is a good thing ... New ideas, new experience, increased knowledge, personal and professional growth, better relationships and an overall positive approach to life are just a few of the benefits of having an open mind.” This helps support the ideas of philosophers like Plato and scientist such as David Bohm who believe exposing yourself to new experiences can only just have you grow as a person. As a student, it is clear to me that being a more open-minded individual will be beneficial I a person personally and intellectually.
Plato, a Greek philosopher and student of Socrates encouraged people to know about Epistemology, which is the study of knowledge. In his work of the Allegory of the Cave Plato is having a conversation with his Educator Socrates in this conversation he is creating a symbolic story. He starts out his story with the description of this cave then explaining the prisoners in cave; they are chained down by their hands and feet and put to a position where they cannot turn their heads at all. These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the cave. Behind...