Similarities Between The Matrix And The Allegory Of The Cave
Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix
Anthony Albizu
Phil 201
Liberty University
Coming to the realization that your entire life is all an illusion would be frightening, painful, and hard to believe. This is the main concept of the movie, The Matrix. The main character, Neo, is told that the world he has been living in is nothing more than a simulation controlled by a computer program. After being told this information, Neo, being apprehensive at first, has to then decide what he will do; accept it and help expose it or dismiss it and go on living an illusion. One can’t help but notice the similarities between the story of The Matrix and the classic writings of ancient philosophers Rene Descartes and Plato. Plato’s writing “The Allegory of the Cave” has undeniable similarities to …show more content…
In The Matrix Neo is asked, “What is real? How do you define real? If you are 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,” (The Matrix, 1999). The point that this question is attempting to make is that reality is not found in the senses. Rene Descartes coincides with this point in his writing when he says that he observes that our senses sometimes mislead us and thus should not be counted as an absolute truth (Descartes, Para 3). Another connection between Descartes’ writing and The Matrix is the idea that reality could all be just a dream. Descartes meditates on the idea that we have no distinct marks that allow us to discern a dream from a waking moment and convinces himself that he may be dreaming in that very moment that he is writing the words down (Para. 5). Likewise, in The Matrix the world they perceive feels real but is virtually just a dream. The dream feels so real that the people living in the Matrix have no idea that they are
Anthony Albizu
Phil 201
Liberty University
Coming to the realization that your entire life is all an illusion would be frightening, painful, and hard to believe. This is the main concept of the movie, The Matrix. The main character, Neo, is told that the world he has been living in is nothing more than a simulation controlled by a computer program. After being told this information, Neo, being apprehensive at first, has to then decide what he will do; accept it and help expose it or dismiss it and go on living an illusion. One can’t help but notice the similarities between the story of The Matrix and the classic writings of ancient philosophers Rene Descartes and Plato. Plato’s writing “The Allegory of the Cave” has undeniable similarities to …show more content…
In The Matrix Neo is asked, “What is real? How do you define real? If you are 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,” (The Matrix, 1999). The point that this question is attempting to make is that reality is not found in the senses. Rene Descartes coincides with this point in his writing when he says that he observes that our senses sometimes mislead us and thus should not be counted as an absolute truth (Descartes, Para 3). Another connection between Descartes’ writing and The Matrix is the idea that reality could all be just a dream. Descartes meditates on the idea that we have no distinct marks that allow us to discern a dream from a waking moment and convinces himself that he may be dreaming in that very moment that he is writing the words down (Para. 5). Likewise, in The Matrix the world they perceive feels real but is virtually just a dream. The dream feels so real that the people living in the Matrix have no idea that they are