Reflection of the "Matrix"

Reflection Paper Josiah Hansen Kroski Philosophy 110 In the Matrix series there seems is quite a bit of philosophy. It has principles like Plato’s cave, Socrates’ “know thyself” and of course free will and fate. In the matrix your mind is being entertained or kept busy to be blinded from the real world. This keeps you from waking up and “freeing your mind.” In one particular part Neo is offered 2 pills by Morpheus. This tends to imply that Neo always has a choice. He asked the question “Do you want be free?” Once Neo chooses what pill take he is brought out of the Matrix and into the “real world.” The real world is quite different from the matrix, but in the real world Neo finds out that he is “the One,” a messiah of sorts. But Neo does not believe in fate because he doesn’t like the idea that he is in control of his own life. In another part of the movie the oracle says “Don’t worry about the vase.” Neo then turns and knocks over the vase. He apologizes for doing so but she gives the possibility that if she hadn’t said anything would he have still knocked it over? I don’t think any of us really like the idea that we are not in control of our own lives, but how else are we suppose to explain the coincidences in life? Predestination and fate have to be the answer, right? The main point is Neo being the ONE…i.e. Fate. While the movie in itself is highly entertaining and filled with lots of great action scenes it also causes you to think about fate vs free will. Throughout the movie Neo has to make choice after choice. Most of the time he is influenced to make such choices but he doesn’t always succumb to what most people want him to do. I suppose there is a bit of determinism when it came to him trying to escape at his office in the beginning of the movie and he thought that the risk of him falling was greater than the risk of getting caught. If he falls he dies, if he gets caught he only gets in trouble. For the most part he doesn’t have the greatest