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The Matrix: Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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“What is real? How do you define ‘real’? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain (The Matrix).” While this question and its following analysis are from the late 20th century film The Matrix, the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato would have agreed wholeheartedly. Plato was a 4th century B.C. Greek philosopher who explored many fundamental philosophical concepts and instituted one of the first educational establishments in the Western World. Socrates, his teacher and associate, influenced many of his ideas and inspired Plato to write many of his works in the form of a dialogue (Ancient History: Plato). One of these works, known …show more content…

In The Matrix, a movie with strong parallels to the allegory, the titular environment is a computer-generated illusion of reality in which people have been deceived to believe the Matrix is real. In the same way, Plato’s allegory begins with men underground who have been chained all their lives. All they know of reality are the shadows that a fire behind them reflects onto a wall on which the prisoners’ chains force them to observe. When one of the prisoners is freed, he is taught to understand what is truly real, not merely the shadows that he knew before. Through the guidance of an instructor, his mind transitions from the unenlightened mind of one who lived in the cave, to the enlightened mind of one who truly knows reality (Plato …show more content…

An article discussing the scientific proof of reality contains a quote from renowned scientist Niels Bohr stating that, “Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real (qtd. in Walia).” Does this sound familiar? If it does, it is because this directly connects with Plato’s theory of forms. Not only does the concept of forms tie into science, but it also explains a mathematical loophole. Plato pointed out that, although the philosophy of mathematics involves perfect shapes, such as circles, no such thing exists in the visible world. Thus, because these ideals do not exist in the visible world, yet mathematicians still intellectually understand that these concepts exist; objects such as perfect circles must only exist in their true form in the real world (Viera). Concepts such as perfect circles substantiate the claims about reality that Plato illustrates in the “Allegory of the

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