Unveiled to the public in 1999, The Matrix is a science fiction movie starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Laurence Fishburne. The film reflects what is referred to as simulated reality, or a world crafted through the use of machinery in order to entrap society. The main character, Neo, played by Reeves discovers the truth behind the Matrix and subsequently, seeks to thwart the disintegration of mankind. It can be argued that the film intriguingly presents the concept of the world the general population lives in is an illusion, or the philosophical concept referred to as skepticism.
Erion & Smith (2002) write that Descartes utilized a series of arguments to relay the concept of skepticism. Specifically, Descartes asks those who consider his contentions to suspend their beliefs in the notion that everything they've come to see, hear, etc. is a mere fable. Descartes produces the concept of doubt, which is that everything that has and is known to mankind is only that because of presented evidence (2). Essentially, to Erion & Smith's (2002) point, The Matrix can be stated to be a simple exercise in the argument that Descartes presents. In other words, the film provides a substantive foundation for the argument that Descartes presented about everything that individuals observe is subject to doubt. The opinions of what is seen, touched, smelled, tasted, heard, etc. are only opinions because of the foundation of what mankind has come to accept as reality.
Erion & Smith (2002) continue by noting that it is within the realm of possibility that man suspend his/her beliefs in order to consider that everything that they have come to know is not truly reality or rather what they refer to as a "malicious demon" seeking to be cunning and execute this illusion to the fullest (3). It can be said that the character of Neo, who discovers this demon, is bent on relentlessly ensuring that the world he has built, or rather the opinions he’s constructed do not come crumbling around him. In essence, the film is making the argument that mankind has become so used to the reality that it has constructed/created that it will do whatever it needs to in order to protect itself from the realization that this reality could be a potential illusion.
Garza (2004) echoes a similar argument as Erion & Smith (2002), but takes it a step further by stating that "truth is [only] available to us for insofar as we overcome our tendency to subjectively distort perception and instead attend dispassionately to the information given to our intellect via the senses" (436). Basically, the truth is only truth that man's intellect has given him. For Neo, he has been subjected to the truths of this man-made illusion or Matrix and discovers the truth is anything but. The Matrix, then as aforementioned is a mere exercise in Descartes' treatment on the subject of human experiences and the psychology of mental processes and structures. The film proposes the viewer to inquire as to whether what Neo has observed is true? Is society experiencing the phenomenon of fundamental subjectivity? Garza (2004) offers up that Heidegger also asked this question inquiring as to whether "truth rests in correspondence between one's perception of a thing and that thing's status as an object in itself. [That] an object is never meaningful except in the context of projected understanding of the one for who it is" (438). The reality of the film is to prove Heidegger’s point that truth is only truth because man has identified it as his truth.
Rod Serling created a television show back in 1958 entitled The Twilight Zone, which evoked within man the idea that another dimension, or matrix could potentially exist and that it is important for society to at least consider the possibility. The Matrix film asks the same question. While science fiction, through the use of both Descartes and Heidegger, there is reason to believe that a different reality does exist. This is perhaps why, the adage every person has his own truth, ripples to this day.
Chalmers (n.d.) asks viewers of The Matrix in their consideration of another reality to consider whether like Neo, if they could distinguish it from the one they believe is real? There is no way to really tell for certain because the brain exists on its own. Asking similarly to Descartes and Heidegger, the question does not really yield a conclusive nor definitive answer (2). In fact, it presents more questions than answers altogether because like Neo, mankind would be devastated to discover that everything that it has come to know as real is merely computer generated. Yet, like Descartes, the question must be raised, and to a certain extent, researched.
Watching movies like The Matrix, only present even more questions about the concept of philosophical skepticism. What is society to believe is real or false, and once it has these answers, how can it determine if what has been stated to be real is truly real, and what is truly stated to be false is false. Essentially, the entirety of the film’s theme is the concept of what is real, and how can society really know what is real if it is existing in an illusory context run by what Erion & Smith (2002) refer to as the malicious demon. It is important to note that while Descartes, Heidegger and The Matrix propose that reality is an illusion, that they do not “entail that reality does not exist” (Chalmers 5). This only adds proverbial fuel to the skepticism fire as it provokes within mankind to question everything it has been taught and explained as truth and falsehood.
As stated earlier, the film only warrants society to ask more questions because of the never-ending arguments that can be presented about skepticism. Neo’s determination is only so because he has presented with the truth, or what his counterparts, played by Laurence Fishburne and Gloria Foster, have presented as the truth. The viewer is left with an insatiable determination like Neo to discover their own truths, or essentially the truth of whether their reality is a mere computer generated matrix, or an actual, credible world that they have come to know and love.
Works Cited
Chalmers, David J. "The Matrix as Metaphysics." Online posting. Australian National University. n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2016. <http://consc.net/papers/matrix.pdf>.
Erion, Gerald J, and Barry Smith. "In Defense of Truth: Skepticism, Morality, and The Matrix." 2002. Web. 26 Feb. 2016. <http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/articles/Matrix.pdf>.
Garza, Gilbert. "Descartes in the Matrix: Addressing the Question “What Is Real?” from Non-Positivist Ground." Janus Head 7.2 (2004): 435-467. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. <http://www.janushead.org/7-2/garza.pdf>.
