The Matrix And Descartes ' Meditations On First Philosophy

The highest degree of reality involves the infinite. The infinite represents substances that are unbounded and possess no conceivable or tangible limits in any of their aspects or qualities. The only example of this for Descartes would be an entity of omnipotence, who would be all knowing, all powerful, and that of which no greater can be conceived, in other words God.

In Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes does and experiment with wax to try to prove that things actually exist in this world. This essay is going to prove how we can tell that things actually exist and what can perceive the wax.

This then leads him to question the existence of God, and then whether he himself truly exists as well. Descartes concludes his claim in stating, “So after considering everything very thoroughly, I must finally conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind,” (25). Therefore, in spite of everything he is skeptical of, Descartes manages to believe that his true existence is not something worthy of doubt.

Through questioning the knowledge he had always believed to be true, Descartes comes to realize that many of his basic beliefs were founded on sensual knowledge. This leads him to question his very existence, and eventually to search for unconditional proof of his existence

The Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes is a thorough analysis about doubt. Descartes describes his method of doubt to determine whether he can truly know something. One of his major arguments is the proof of the existence of God. In this paper, I will attempt to unravel the flaws in Descartes proof that God exists.

Upon completion of reading the synopsis for The Matrix, Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes and Plato’s classic work The Republic, I notice that there are various similar views, as well as many contrasting perspectives throughout each of the works. Each piece examines the existence in which they are living, as well as the soundness of our sense perceptions. One of the most evident corresponding views in all three works is the arising question of ‘do we undoubtedly understand the world in which we live or is it a fraudulent reality?’ Although each work has corresponding views, there are also differences. Each author has a dissimilar outlook on the way that the mind is recognized.

This essay will discuss The Matrix, from synopsis of the following; The Republic by Plato, depicting the famous cave allegory, and Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes, offering doubt that some senses are accurate. By examining these two readings, and the movie, it will allow the author to show some comparisons, and to show how they are also different as this essay indicates the world is very real.

The brain in a vat, although just a recap of the argument by Descartes, is more directly related to The Matrix. The pods that humans spend their whole lives the film, represents the vat. The difference here though is that, the pods contain the entire body instead of just a disembodied brain. The notion, proposed by Descartes, about all our perceptions being false may seem ridiculous, but is in fact something impossible to disprove. Moreover, Descartes was right to distrust his senses. Optical illusions for example, produce a difference between what we see and what we experience. In the case of optical illusions, people are aware of the difference, but they do not normally question their senses. Reality and its basic assumptions were to be

Modern American philosopher; Hilary Putman’s thought experiment called the Brain in the Vat, emphasizes a person’s brain placed inside a container filled with fluids and the fluids is an aid to preserving the brain. Wires are connected to the brain senses (vision, smell, hearing, taste and touch) using electronic impulses that is attached to a computer. Sense information is imputed to the brain from the computer by a computer network administrator. For example, information telling the brain, “You are running in Italy, and you smell pizza.” The brain perceives this information as reality. The movie The Matrix is based on the Brain in the Vat. The Matrix, Rene Descartes, Meditation I Of The Things Of Which We May Doubt and Plato’s,

Rene Descartes believes that we can describe the nature of reality or even what it entails for that reality to exist. It is always good to consider what we mean before proclaiming that we know about the reality. Descartes claim that people should only guarantee their belief on certainty if there is justification if the ideas that one have can be judged using a method that guarantees the fact that one is right. To identify if there is something

He speaks of a person held in a cave, and only able to view shadows from the outside. These shadows become his reality, He thinks these are what are real, and even names them and forms ideas about them. He does all of this without truly understanding that the shadows are but a shade of reality, they are also a peace of pseudo reality. For Descartes, he asks the question “ How can I believe what my senses tell me. He almost seems paranoid that he is in a reality that is not real.

Because our existence is dependant on our thoughts, and not physical things, Descartes regards the reality of existence of the physical world as less certain the the reality of existence of souls and God. He claims this is because we can be deceived by our sense and imaginations which is similar to argument of solipsism, the idea that everything perfectly clear and distinct exists only within our minds.. Descartes says, “The sense of sight assures us no less of the truth of its objects than do the senses of smell or hearing, whereas neither our imagination nor our sense could ever assure us of anything if our understanding did not intervene” (Reality, 65). Descartes is questioning the reliability of our sense and how accurately they relay messages to our minds. For example, when a straight stick is placed in water, it looks bent.

He tells us there is one belief that is true, that we are thinking things. He believes that even though our beliefs cannot be for sure, but because we think, and experience then, our minds must exist. The only thing that he was sure of was that he existed, and everything else he doubted. He believed that everything he knew to be true could be doubted, and that only his existence could be true. Since thinking could not be possible without there being something that does that thinking, this proves that we exist.

Descartes’ ultimate goal in reaching his conclusions stem from the way he thought. As long as there was no doubt to reach a conclusion, he was right; so, his process of radical doubt is fully employed in his Meditations. Dismissing all knowledge that could be doubted however slight, Descartes sought out to find knowledge that held absolute certainty through questioning. His ultimate question, however, do we actually exist? How do we know?

Descartes was grappling with how we can "prove" our existence. We can think, so we must exist.