Allegory Of The Cave Comparison

In the movie The Matrix, there is a super computer that controls the reality of all humans. Neo, a character in the movie, realizes that the Matrix is not real. Morpheus helps him to come to this realization that his “life” was not real, that a super computer was programming his thoughts, and experiences. All the humans were in this huge machine with their brains connected to a bunch of wires, and their thoughts were being inputted by the computer. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, there is a similar situation. In his description of the prisoners of the cave, the prisoners were chained down, and only able to look a wall. There was a fire behind them and shadows from other walking by were played out on the wall for the prisoners to see. They believed the shadows to be real. When one of the prisoners were released, they perceived the real world in actuality, and the shadows they perceived to be real were not. Like in The Matrix, they believed only what they perceived. In Descartes’s Meditation I of the Things of Which May Doubt, he says he will doubt everything he believes unless he is absolutely certain of the truth of the belief. He believes that our senses can deceive us on many levels. Descartes’s also says when we dream we can never be sure what is real and what is a dream. The
similarity of Descartes’s with The Matrix and Allegory of the Cave is the evil demon theory. He believes that he is being deceived by an evil demon of all senses and knowledge (Foreman & Dew, 2012). That the evil demon is allowing us to perceive what he wants us to perceive. How do we know the world we are experiencing is real? All we know has been taught to us by our senses and perception on how we sense these things. I believe by touch, sight, smell, and all these things are real to me. I believe in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That Jesus died on the cross for our sins. This is the real world to me. I have faith in our Lord that what we are experiencing is real and not some dream or alternate reality. At the end of the Allegory of the Cave, Socrates explained that most men would want to escape the cave and see reality as it really is. In The Matrix; however, in his betrayal of Morpheus, Cypher implies that it is better to live in the artificial world of the Matrix. Cypher believed that “ignorance is bliss.” For me, I would like to know what reality really is. “Ignorance is bliss” can be a nice thing, but something always happens to make you doubt what is really going on. When that happened you truly believe that you have been deceived and everything you thought to be true is not.

Most of our knowledge is based on sense experience, and they are not always accurate.
How can we be truly certain of our beliefs? Personally, I know about the senses not being accurate. I am legally blind, and hard of hearing. Much of my world is not truly how it is perceived. I rely on what my family and friends tell me. What makes me certain of my beliefs is my faith in our Lord. A few years ago, I might have questioned everything based on my senses not being accurate. How do I know that I am truly seeing or hearing what’s in front of me. My faith in the Lord has leaded me to believe that God is with us every step of the way. Having faith in him will see me through
everything.

References

Foreman, Mark & Dew, Jr. J. (2012) How Certain Can We Be? In, How Do You Know? A Short Introduction to the Issues of Epistemology. (p. 58). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Wachowski, Andy, and Lana Wachowski. The Matrix. Directed by Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999.