Philosophy 201
Which pill would you choose - red or blue? What is more important - a blissful ignorance or knowledge of the truth, whatever it might be? After watching "The Matrix", I think, everyone has asked themselves these questions.
What is the matrix? One of the definitions which dictionary gives - "a hollow muscular organ located in the pelvic cavity of female mammals in which the fertilized egg implants and develops. Also called womb." [Thefreedictionary.com]. In technological meaning, this is “a container that can be filled with a material (such as very hot metal) to give the material a new shape” [Merriam-Webster.com]. In the film, the two definitions are merged, forming a frightening mixture: living human beings are grown using a high-tech underground cocoons with a metal cord, directly connected via the cervical spine to the head brain. This cable doesn't nourish, but programs human’s perception of the world.
There is a clear parallel between the film's plot and the famous “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, presented in the seventh book of “Republic". According to this allegory, we are all prisoners of the underground cave who born in chains and unable to move our bodies or heads, which is why we see only shadows on the walls. However, the prisoners are not aware that they are prisoners, but they imagine themselves free. We believe that the shadows on the walls are real and we are unaware of our ignorance. Caught in the trap of an artificial world and being the victims of manipulation, we are trying to prove the "truth" of our own world at all costs [Bachelorandmaster.com].
Further Plato says that one of the prisoners is released and forced to pass through the tunnel that leads to the outside world. The process of adaptation to the new conditions is extremely painful. No more artificial world, there is only the realm of nature and truth. The prisoner’s eyes enjoy what they see, the soul revels in truth, and finally, the liberated prisoner cognizes true happiness and, of course, doesn’t want to go back into the dark dungeon [Bachelorandmaster.com].
The image of the matrix created by Plato raises a lot of questions, including the important one - What is the reality and how can you know it? This is the main question asked in the "Matrix".
We can find many parallels not only between the “Matrix” and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, but also with “Meditations on First Philosophy” by Rene Descartes.
The hypothesis which states that the world we see, hear and feel may be an illusion, is developed by the supporters of skepticism school of thought. Skeptics argue that we can’t be confident if the external world exists. Like the characters in "The Matrix", who notice suspicious things in familiar world, skeptics persist in opinion that our knowledge of the world can be called into question.
In his classic work "Meditations on First Philosophy" Descartes states the most significant arguments of skepticism, which should create a solid foundation for science. Descartes considers void our opinion, based on sensory experience. We often rely on the information obtained through our vision, hearing, smell and taste. But they often mislead us, that’s why Descartes discards this opinion [Sparknotes.com].
Descartes emphasizes that while sleeping we are often under delusion that, for example, we’re reading a book at that moment. In your dream you see that you are sitting in the chair and read this book, but in fact you are lying in bed in rapid eye movement sleep. We can’t differentiate the waking experience from that we supposedly experience in a dream, until we wake up. Morpheus supports this view – ‘Have you ever seen such a dream, Neo, when you were sure it wasn’t a dream? What if you couldn’t wake up from this dream? How would you know the difference between the world of your dream and the real world?’
On the basis of his "sleepy" argument Descartes concludes that the sensual experience is not the most reliable mechanism for prove, so he discards all believes, formed on the basis of sensory experience [Sparknotes.com].
So, those of us, who have watched this film, can ask ourselves another question: Can we exclude the possibility that our lives seem filled with sense, but in fact, they’re only an illusion created in our brains by intelligent computers?
Work Cited
Matrix (n.d.). In Thefreedictionary.com.
˂ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/matrix ˃
Matrix (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster.com.
˂ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/matrix ˃
Bachelorandmaster.com. Plato's The Allegory of the Cave: Meaning and Interpretation. Web. 21 March 2016.
˂http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/creationofknowledge/allegory-of-the-cave.html#.VuflnZyLSUl˃
Sparknotes.com. Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes. Sparknotes, 2016.
˂http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/meditations/section2.rhtml˃
