The Matrix And Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

The movie the Matrix is full of philosophical relevancies and issues dealing with morality. Rene Descartes and Iacovos Vasiliou are both great thinkers, and both of them had great ideas that played a big part into forming the idea of the Matrix and it’s reality and whether or not it was real or not. In my paper, I will describe both their sides and their opinions on the matter of the Matrix, and how Neo, the main character, would feel in regards to all of it. I will also discuss how I believe both Descartes and Vasiliou in their views.

Descartes is considering that all of his experiences could be false and that everything is just the invention of a powerful being. This resulted in this argument:

In the movie, Neo takes a huge risk by saving Morpheus. After Neo saves Trinity from falling down the building and faces Morpheus, he mentions what the Oracle says “Sorry kiddo. You got the gift, but it looks like you are waiting for something. Your next life maybe, who knows? That's the way these things go.”(Matrix). The Oracle tells Neo that he is not the one. When Neo tries to mention what the Oracle said, Morpheus quickly interrupts him and says, “She told you exactly what you needed to hear, that's all. Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize, just as I did, there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”(Matrix). Neo does not believe he is the one but Morpheus reminds Neo what he is capable of by praising him

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one", Albert Einstein. This quote from Einstein touches on how reality is not something that one can fully grasp without questioning the reality that you are in presently and both Plato and the Matrix address through their work. In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, he discusses how society controls information so that the people know only what they need to know and nothing more. In the Matrix they show how society has used the control of information to create an illusion of a "dreamworld" as Morpheus calls it, to crete a false sense of security and happiness. This illusion was supposed to keep the people satisfied so that the citizens would not want to question what was going on and dig

In The Matrix Neo was created to destroy the computers, so everyone’s eyes would be open. In “The Allegory of the Cave” one prisoner broke free to gain insight to enlighten the ones in the darkness. Unfortunately everyone did not want truth in both works. They were comfortable with the known and afraid of the unknown. Even when we have free will we might choose to be in

In Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the Wachowskis' The Matrix, the ideas of truth are that it can only be defined by how far one is willing to think outside of their own reality. Both the allegory and the film depict truth as a key of sorts for individuals to break free from their imprisonment. This can be seen by Neo's physical escape from the pod, which he had been unknowingly trapped in his whole life and his ascension to light after being swept down the pod's tube. The tube which swept Neo away is alike to the freed prisoner being "dragged...into the sunlight" by force in Plato's allegory; the two characters are being forced to have their senses enlightened once they've been freed from the chains on their bodies (but their minds still need to get adjusted to seeing the world in a new way). However, the allegory and the film differ in that Plato's prison is a physical cave which houses it's prisoners, while the matrix is a program that confines people's minds, thus is limitless while inside.

After one views the movie The Matrix, reads “The Allegory of the Cave”, and “Meditation of the Things of which we may Doubt” it is apparent the many differences and similarities that these three different works contain. What Neo discovers in The Matrix is that the population of humans in its entirety are laying in machines meant to keep their bodies alive and have their brains connected to very powerful computers which provide the people with virtual lives; everything is illusion meant to keep control. In “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato from his book The Republic, Plato metaphorically compares the thoughts, perceptions and senses of humans to that of prisoners who are locked up inside of a dark cave. He uses this analogy to demonstrate how our surroundings manipulate and affect the way we perceive, understand and see the world around

l Throughout the history,Human-kind has always been trying to understand the meaning of life. This interrogation made people think about what the reality is. To find the answer of this question ,some philosophers,like Ancient Greek philosophers,came up with some approaches. Because the movie of The Matrix includes the examples of philosophical approaches,it removes from being ‘just a movie’. There are some similarities between Cave Allegory and the movie of The Matrix.

If what we see, hear and feel are what shapes our perception of the world around us, then when one questions those things they in turn question their very existence. Such thought provoking ideas, in which one is forced to ponder upon what they perceive to be reality is seen in both the Matrix and Plato’s famous ‘Allegory of the Cave.’ But in the case of said works, those who inhabit the fictional universes are lead to believe their perspective on the nature of reality is the sole possible viewpoint, much like individuals in real life. Although unlike humanity, these individuals are later shown that their past reality was nothing more than a cruel facade. In the case of the Matrix, It tried to implant such thought provoking messages into the

In The Matrix, a movie with strong parallels to the allegory, the titular environment is a computer-generated illusion of reality in which people have been deceived to believe the Matrix is real. In the same way, Plato’s allegory begins with men underground who have been chained all their lives. All they know of reality are the shadows that a fire behind them reflects onto a wall on which the prisoners’ chains force them to observe. When one of the prisoners is freed, he is taught to understand what is truly real, not merely the shadows that he knew before. Through the guidance of an instructor, his mind transitions from the unenlightened mind of one who lived in the cave, to the enlightened mind of one who truly knows reality (Plato

“What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain”(Morpheus from The Matrix). A ground breaking work of art that forces us to question everything we think we know to some, and a narcissistic, self absorbed movie that takes itself and its ideas way to seriously to others; The Matrix is one of those movies that you either completely love or undeniably hate. With it's strong philosophical themes on the nature of our perception of reality, The Matrix could easily be considered a modern take on Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

He believes that the mind can remain functional without the help of a body. The situation with this belief is that as human beings our body helps our mind function and produce thoughts just the same as our mind sending signals for our body to move. Everything that exists is because our minds have created their existence. Descartes doubts the idea of our senses being able to find the truth of existence. On the other hand, Sceptics believe that the true form of an object for instance can come from perception. In the article, there is the example that states a theory that exists will already have an opposed theory existing as well. (Empiricus, 38) Nevertheless, a thought believed to be true can also be wrong. Furthermore, Sceptics believe that we can never real know anything. If knowing everything is impossible, than how will we know if the truth can be

Although esoteric by nature, philosophy can be applied to any aspect of our daily lives, as it is a unique way of thinking. Even in popular culture, there exist numerous examples of philosophical inquiries, which, unfortunately, are usually unbeknownst to a large percentage of the general population. One of the more successfully engaging and, simultaneously, entertaining endeavors to fuse philosophy into the mainstream of the Western culture of our time is that of the “The Matrix” films. The focus of this essay will primarily be on the first movie of the trilogy and the questions it poses within the different branches of philosophy. The Matrix references multiple philosophers who have considered or examined the idea that the world is an illusion, and uses commentary along with symbolism, whether obvious or subtle, in order to present various ideas concerning the nature of our world and of the human condition. Below I will attempt to interpret some of the representations of this motion picture.

Many people think that what we know is not really what is real. This idea is shown through the story of The Allegory of the Cave and the movie, The Matrix. Both the movie and the story are similar (it is said that The Matrix is based on The Allegory) and the main plots of the two can be compared.

Descartes arguments are mostly around what’s certain and what’s uncertain; doubts the physical world and if we are really exists. Descartes is unsure about if evil demons really exists, so he cannot conclude that everything he’s sense telling him or anything at all is truth; Descartes illustrate his arguments and reasons for his doubts and ideas in 6 meditations that explains his thought based on god’s supreme and finite power in the existing world.