Philosophical Analysis of the Matrix

This means that “the truth”, or “reality” in a person’s perspective, is perceived by the emotional affect upon a person’s mind, and it is not necessarily the actual reality of the world, so the world has been changed, albeit “magically”. The “truth” of a reality is not true at all; it is a projection of the emotional state of a consciousness. A person’s emotions take over at this point, as because I can’t reach the grapes, my emotions of disappointment and disgust are projected onto the grapes. In the “true” reality, the grapes are probably absolutely fine, but because I can’t reach them and because I am in such an emotional state makes me believe they will taste bad, and so I don’t require proof. Controlled or not, emotions reside over my behaviour.

What if one were living through life completely bound and facing a reality that doesn't even exist? The prisoners in Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" are blind from true reality as well as the people in the movie The Matrix. They are given false images and they accept what their senses are telling them. They believe what they are experiencing is not all that really exists. Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher wrote "The Allegory of the Cave," to explain the process of enlightenment and what true reality may be. In the movie The Matrix, Neo (the main character) was born into a world of illusions called the Matrix.

When the film The Matrix debuted in 1999, it was an instant box office success that captivated many viewers. However throughout the featured famed actors, costumes, special effects and fight scenes, many viewers failed to notice the philosophical issues. Plato and Descartes, just like the characters in the movie are faced and driven to extreme measures to understand the world around them. They are compelled to seek knowledge in understanding what is real, evaluating the mind-body problem, and are left wondering if there is any good. These philosophical features of the movie have raised questions and have made it an interesting film to watch. While many viewers can agree that The Matrix is highly action packed, not all can truly appreciate

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 “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

In this essay I shall discuss how the film, 'The Matrix' (1999), engages in a form of cinematic philosophy. Specifically, I will discuss how the film can be seen as making an objection to the position held by Sidgwick (1907), who asserts that, positive states of consciousness, or, pleasure, is ultimately the only thing inherently valuable, which in turn becomes the basis of his utilitarian ethics. In doing so, I consider The Matrix to be a cinematic adaptation of Robert Nozick's (1974) 'experience machine' thought experiment, which the film-makers bring to life, developing it into a narrative that pulls heavily on our moral emotions. However, although the film-makers skilfully elicit the appropriate emotional responses from viewers, ensuring

A long time ago the difference between perception and reality was defined as the act of understanding in contrast to the act of being real. Reality could be tricky; most of us including myself depending on scenarios of our lives tend to give in to ideas which are not applicable to reality as a whole. The best example of this is written in the short story “All Over” by Guy de Maupassant. In which his main character Lormerin is very self conscious and narcissistic also Lise de Vance, a former old love plays a big role in hurting Lormerin ego and opening his eyes by showing him, his real self. Many would say that when reality knocks it could be harsh and confusing. In the next couple of

We all grew up with tales of dragons and beasts, banished by knights and kings. Stories of righteousness against hellfire in a most innocent way. As we grow older we come to believe that along with our days of youth, we leave behind Disney tales of “good vs. evil”, and the proper notion of an uncomplicated “right or wrong” narrative becomes nothing more than an imprint of a faded memory of what defined the world. In a perfect world, that perspective would ring as gospel amongst the people of the world, and maybe then, and only then, would the world be “perfect”. Though many long for this sort of simplicity in the universe, this is simply not how the world is. Through our storytelling, and our own psychological necessity for an affixed dichotomy

There exists a place in one’s mind that determines what is real, and what is not. One could argue this distant concept as being linked to the subconscious; others, such as Neil Gaiman, provide a template for existence on the other side. The children’s story Coraline reveals the truth of darkness and confusion in a supposed replicated dimension. The Allegory of the Cave is an essay written by philosopher Plato that explains the analogy of prisoners kept facing a wall in a cave to those who experience a perfectly formed enlightenment of the mind. Those who break free are unveiled into this bright and amazing world and are initially overwhelmed, for everything that they once thought to be is instantly proved to be wrong, or more to say, altered. The theory of forms, applied to this story, assumes the existence of some distant reality, with the perfect “forms”. This idea provides for all things in the real world that we physically and mentally live in. The forms are theoretically donated into the real world, but lose their perfection along the way, and instead inherit a base for numerous opinions: these are the objects that human’s perceive every day. The forms in Coraline are displayed, with all child appeal, as within a physical small door, leading to the “other side” of the flat. In the world, objects are beautiful and wondrous, but confusion of course sets in, as the new view is so astray from the normal source of opinions. The captured sense is new, and truly; horrific.

What we think is reality will ultimately become our reality if we believe certain things about an individual; he/she begins acting in exactly that way.

In “The Matrix as Metaphysics,” David Chalmers, contemporary philosopher of mind, illustrates how the Cartesian “Brain in a Vat” fable (interchangeable with Descartes own “Evil Devil”) , used as an epistemological thought experiment, treads in the field of metaphysics rather than epistemology. Chalmers argues that, even if man’s world is dictated by these brains in vats, even if man’s world was ruled by an evil devil who purposely deceives their perceptions, man has largely correct beliefs about the world. This idea, however, defies Descartes original intention of the thought experiment being skeptical. So, how does Chalmers make a skeptical and, therefore, an epistemological argument one that is metaphysical instead? To make such a claim, Chalmers first substitutes the “Brain in a Vat” hypothesis with, what he calls, the Matrix hypothesis. The two hypotheses are practically equivalent, the only differences being that the Matrix hypothesis predicts a virtual, computerized world rather than the imaginary world which the “Brain in the Vat” hypothesis predicts. After this substitution, Chalmers goes on to argue that, if man is computerized, then there may be some creator, outside of their spacetime, who built said computer (Creation Hypothesis). He then says that, if man’s world is computerized, then, under all its physical processes lie computer code which accounts for those processes (Computational Hypothesis). Chalmers follows up by saying that, if man is computerized,

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” -Philip K. Dick

Do you take the red pill or the blue pill? Is ignorance bliss or is the truth worth knowing? These are questions which revolves around the battle of accepting or rejecting the illusions that constructs all of life. The Matrix and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave both contemplate the question of what is real? According to Plato, knowledge gained through our senses is no more than an opinion, and to obtain true knowledge we must gain by philosophical reasoning. In the Matrix written and directed by the Wachowski sisters (then the Wachowski brothers), had its own complex version of a false reality formed by our perception of life as the actual one surrounds it. To many The Matrix is no more than an interpretation of Plato’s

Christopher Falzon, philosophy lecturer and author of Philosophy Goes to the Movies and "Philosophy and The Matrix," points out that The Matrix employs Cartesian-style skepticism in its attempt to inundate the viewer in this cyber-world (“Philosophy and the Matrix” 99). This is seen in Neo’s choice between the red pill and blue pill in The Matrix, which can be likened to Descartes’s employment of the acid test. Neo, a computer hacker, is told that a man named Morpheus can tell him the meaning of ‘the Matrix,’ a term that Neo has encountered several times. Upon meeting Morpheus, Neo is given a choice: he can take a blue pill which will make him forget about his quest to discover the meaning of ‘the Matrix,’ or he can

Historically, humanity has been obsessed with discovering the nature of reality. Every person eventually develops their own worldview based on their beliefs, morals, and experiences. At one point in their lives, many people undergo a radical change in perception that forces them to change this view, eventually adopting a new perception of reality. Such a transformation occurs once one starts to question the fundamental nature of one’s own existence and that of the world around them. This realization begins with the disillusionment with one’s environment, continues with the questioning of one’s life’s worth, and concludes with the acceptance of a new worldview.