The Matrix Essay

Thesis: There are many similarities in the Matrix ( Wachowski, Andy, and Lana Wachowski 1999 ), The Allegory of the Cave ( Plato ) and Meditation I of The Things of Which We May Doubt ( Decartes, 1641 ). It appears as you take a close look at the Matrix that it is a retelling of “The Allegory of the Cave” with elements of “Meditation I of the Things of Which We May Doubt” in it as well.

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.

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.

The similarities between The Cave and The Matrix are too uncanny. The description of the cave above, which is discussed in the first paragraph of Plato’s seventh book, can be portrayed similarly in

The Matrix, Plato’s, The Republic, and Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641 were somewhat similar as the individuals described in these stories, were existing in a world where deception encompassed

The similarities between these two are most evident in their desire for freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted freedom from segregation and Plato wanted freedom from ignorance. They both wanted justice, and knew that it was immoral to take deny another being justice. For example, Plato has said,

In conclusion, there are many parts of these two stories that are very similar while at the same time having parts of the story that are completely different. Even though The Matrix and “The Allegory of the Cave have different settings and show a different point of view , they also have comparable plots, characters, and symbols. These stories succeeded in telling the story of trying to obtain true enlightenment and the different journeys taken to get there. Both stories need to be read/watched and the person watching should take the time to dissect each story and indulge in the true

As the plot of The Matrix advances, this “reality” is explained. Neo eventually wakes up, and witnesses the truth – a world controlled, by machines. As he awakens to a dark desolate world, towers taller than sky scrapers surround him, loaded with humans – in a cocooned state. Machines monitor these sleeping humans - who are unaware of the truth. One of these machines quickly scans Neo, and realizes things aren’t quite right with him, and so he is released down a tube leading to a body disposal, and his possible demise. They (the machines) obviously don’t want him

Aristotle and Plato were both great thinkers but their views on realty were different. Plato viewed realty as taking place in the mind but Aristotle viewed realty is tangible. Even though Aristotle termed reality as concrete, he stated that reality does not make sense or exist until the mind process it. Therefore truth is dependent upon a person’s mind and external factors.

Unlike Neo from The Matrix and the aforementioned liberated man from Plato’s excerpt, Rene Descartes voluntarily and readily accepted that there were many deceptions in his life and was eager to uncover the truth. Congruent with the other excerpts, Descartes recognized that his senses and experiences had deceived him in the past, so he resolved to find truth outside of these approaches. Descartes’ semblance to The Matrix and Plato’s analogy is also discernible when he recounts how the misconceptions he formerly held are familiar and comfortable, making him susceptible to regressing back to those

In his essay, “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato, argues his idea of how to distinguish the reality and truth from that which is a falsehood. Most essentially, he finds it as important to enlighten others that may remain in that

Imagine 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” written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. They are given false images and they accept what their senses are telling them, and they believe what they are experiencing is 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. His true reality is being controlled by the puppet- handlers called the machines who

Plato assumed the existence of human life in a cave. In his view, human beings are tied as prisoners in a cave and they could only see the shadows of real

Although there are many dissimilarities in these two pieces written by Plato, there are lots of similarities. It is very surprising to see as many parallels between the two works, even though they have the same author. To start, Diotima's speech had the

Explain (the main ideas and views) and evaluate (by giving arguments) the view of Heraclitus regarding the nature of reality?