The film series, The Matrix Trilogy, raises many interesting dilemmas and questions for humans and especially for philosophers. Julia Driver was intrigued to analyze the issue of morality and immorality in an environment that does not accurately reflect reality while Hubert and Stephen Dreyfus were interested in deciphering which world is a more preferable habitat for human being; a real one or a virtual one? The following will attempt to explain the previous questions using reference to the first film and response articles by both Driver and Dreyfus and Dreyfus. Driver’s main argument in regards to possessing morality appears to be the presence of consciousness, sentience, and rationality (Driver, N.D., p. 3). In order to have …show more content…
Being rational requires one to behave in such a manner that reflects emphasis on logic and common sense rather than emotions (). Near the end of the film, the agents make a rational decision to flee after Neo inhabits agent Smith’s body as they realize that they will be unable to defeat him armed with what they had at that moment (Wachowski, 1999). However, it is important to note the underlying emotions here as well. The agents were evidently scared when they took off running so it is clear that emotions played a key factor in their decision to run but the logical realization that they would most likely be defeated by him was also a factor. It is unrealistic to imagine that emotions never influence human behaviours but in this case, it is imperative that logic trumps emotion. Since the computer generated beings display the characteristics of consciousness, sentience, and rationality, it can be hypothesized that they do indeed have moral status. The second area of reflection brought up by Driver is the notion of immorality existing in a virtual reality. The debate regarding this question is around the notion of consequences. Some writers believe that morality and immorality only exist when there are actual repercussions of the action (Driver, N.D., pp. 6-7). If this is true, then many of the actions completed by people in the Matrix cannot be deemed moral or immoral because they do not reproduce
Descartes wonders what else that he can know by using this same logic, but first must establish the idea of God and that God is not deceiving him. He reasons that God exists because he as a mortal could not create the idea of such a powerful being, and only a being as powerful as God could have caused an idea of a God that is perfect. Descartes goes on to reason that because God is perfect, then God would not deceive him about anything. It’s not that Descartes is being deceived, but rather his lack of knowledge or understanding about the matters at hand is causing the problem he is facing.
The Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave focus on one central idea: What is real?. They engage the audience in a fictional world where people live in false realities without knowing it. They make us question our own knowledge. Their storylines connect in that the protagonist discovers that everything he knows is a big lie and now he must discover the truth. The protagonist is thrown all of the sudden into the real world and then, he continues to seek the absolute truth. Neo and the prisoner inquire whether knowing the truth is a blessing or a curse.
Unable to know any better, people’s blindness to the truth about their existence throughout the ages has been relative to the questioning of reality. We search but are unable to the see the truth through the illusion that the world before us has portrayed. One might ask, how do we know what is real and what is simply illusion brought by our subjective view of the world? But when attempting to understand the nature of our existence, about why we are here, the complexities of life often make it difficult to interpret this subject. The film The Matrix centers on this same concept that the known world is an illusion. The movies core theme of reality and illusion is definite to the humans understanding of what the true meaning of life is. Ones
In 1999, Larry and Andy Wachowski directed The Matrix, a movie featuring the future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality or cyberspace called "the Matrix”. This fake reality was created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population. To some, this movie represents just another brilliant Hollywood sci-fi action film, but for others, it challenges the understanding of perspective, reality and appearance ("The matrix 101," 2003). The Matrix heavily relies on the concepts of Irish Philosopher George Berkeley who believed reality, or reality as humans perceive it, is fundamentally mental and therefore immaterial which is known as Idealism.
The Matrix is the war between man and machine, and the possibility that reality is a deception. In a sense, the Matrix is a constant struggle of identity and reality. This struggle of identity and reality is based around the character of Thomas Anderson, an ordinary person living a mundane life.
In “The Matrix” and Plato’s Phaedo and Republic questions of what makes up a whole and fulfilling life are answered. Both The Matrix and Plato provide alternate forms of reality, one that is based on truth and is fulfilling and one that is based on a false reality that offers false forms of fulfillment. The Matrix and Plato show the difference of living a life in a true reality and a “fake” reality where everything inside this reality is fake making the lives inside this reality fake. True education, the ability to recollect, and knowledge of reality gives people the ability to live their lives in truth and give life meaning
breaking down a door and pointing a gun at the head of a woman on a
The Matrix and The Oasis are—in a sense—the same. These two worlds are both a huge lie and an escape to many people. But, they have some essential differences. These differences provide an interesting contrast between The Matrix and The Oasis. The three main differences include: ignorance and the choice of it, virtual versus reality, and the definition of a hero.
First off, the creation of the Matrix functions as an institution through the ability to give those who reside within the fantasy
This paper will compare the usefulness of character-based and consequence-based approaches in making moral decisions. In a character-based approach, the consideration of the moral agent is central in making decisions, and actions are made in order to reflect and strengthen good character. In a consequence-based approach, the consideration of the outcome is central in making moral decisions, and actions are judged based on the outcome. Usefulness will be defined in terms of three aspects: consistency, convenience and assurance, with assurance being defined as the confidence that the decision made is correct. Through the comparison of the two approaches, it becomes clear that a character-based approach is more useful in making a decision.
The Matrix Interweaves much symbolism, mythology, philosophy, and psychology. On the surface, the movie challenges the dominance of technology in our culture and predicts an apocalyptic result from the use of artificial intelligence. Yet, behind the human struggle for survival is a mythical backdrop upon which are backlit some of C.G. Jung's basic ideas regarding the human psyche. These Jungian ideas include the ego-Self relationship and how it relates to the persona, the shadow, individuation, and the transcendent function.
A world where everyone lives inside of a simulation that is being controlled by machines after humans lost the war, but they are unaware that it is not the real world. A group of people that are trying to take down this simulation called The Matrix. The directors, Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, use themes, chemistry, and special effects to capture attention and make The Matrix the greatest film ever made.
The Matrix Written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, ‘The Matrix’ is a science fiction film, which was released in the year 1999. It was the first film to use the now famous camera technique of ‘bullet time’ and also introduced wirework martial arts into conventional cinemas. Its vision of the future is similar to other science fiction films such as ‘Men In Black’ with the agents always wearing sunglasses and the idea of man vs. machine\evil. In the opening sequence of the film, I am going to analyse the effects of different camera shots, as well as other factors, which engage the viewers’ interest.
The question of what constitutes morality is often asked by philosophers. One might wonder why morality is so important, or why many of us trouble ourselves over determining which actions are moral actions. Mill has given an account of the driving force behind our questionings of morality. He calls this driving force “Conscience,” and from this “mass of feeling which must be broken through in order to do what violates our standard of right,” we have derived our concept of morality (Mill 496). Some people may practice moral thought more often than others, and some people may give no thought to morality at all. However, morality is nevertheless a possibility of human nature, and a
Many people may question how the movie the Matrix relates to ethics, or any other ethical theories. While watching the movie, I can honestly say that this movie relates to several different ethical theories. Ethics is basically the principle of how we behave and response to certain situations. It also consist of how our motives should be solved. In the movie the character cypher betray he friend, for the purpose of his selfish goals. Ethics relates to this part of the movie, because he is doing it for his own good which is egoism. Egoism is the belief to deal with self-interest, and own motives. Besides hyper-reality you can relate this to epistemology. Epistemology is determining whether we understand reality. We know from the movie that reality is real, but do people inside of matrix know? People inside the movie have no way of knowing because in reality they thought that everything that was going on was real. Hyper-reality is putting together reality and fiction. The Matrix uses this through the whole movie.