Human Desire for an Ideal World

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People in society spend their lives trying to give meaning on what purpose they have in life. Although each individual can possess certain attributes it is our doubts that create a desire to act upon them. These desires give us the motivation to create a meaning of our lives. It is common to form an idea in order to obtain a reason; this inevitably cannot occur because each individual will have their own view on their representation of that idea. The Matrix is a movie where Neo is given the opportunity to separate himself from the reality he is living, in order to fight against the artificial intelligence (AI) that have ultimately taken control of the ‘real’ world. Neo is faced with the decision to continue to live the life he sees or take the challenge that is given to him while facing the unknown: he is only given the hope of finding the truth. Philosophically, The Matrix has an ongoing battle between Plato’s idealist concepts and Nietzsche’s materialism, the view on how we internalize our ideas and use them as motivation to take action towards our desires. In the end, Nietzsche’s materialism defeats Plato’s idealism because it is the actions that individuals take; which allow them to fulfill their desires and lead them to an outcome. This essay will explain how the philosophies of both Plato and Nietzsche have relevance to the movie, how Plato’s idealism is significant to both human and AI, but in the end it is Nietzsche’s materialism that gives credibility to the outcome of the movie where the humans validate their idealistic conquest.
As The Matrix unravels, we are introduced to its main character, Neo and his life on the world as he knows it. He seems unsure of what his life represents and his dreams leave him and the audie...

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...etzsche’s materialism was predominant from beginning to end. Neo represents a prisoner in his own world where he is given the opportunity to see the idea of the matrix. Both Plato and Nietzsche use this title of ‘slave’ to understand society. Plato’s Aristotle power places individuals as those who stay in the darkness as slaves and are contempt, where Nietzsche views the idea of slave morality as those who are commanded and do not think beyond. Neo struggles throughout the movie to accept the idea that he is what Morpheus believes; which is that he is the one. Although this idea represents the desire and hope to achieve freedom from the AI, it is the resistance and Neo’s action’s that control the outcome. Not only must he believe he must have the will to act. In the end Neo defeats Agent Smith but the matrix itself still exists: Neo ends the movie as the Übermensch.

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