Skepticism in The Film Matrix and The Allegory of The Cave

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Recommended: Analyzing Plato's allegory of the cave

Skepticism deals with a person’s belief and if the person can truly trust their senses. As Plato, Descartes, and the creators of The Matrix express in their writings and movies is the possibility of a person’s senses being deceived as there is no proof that the five sense of the person’s body is not being altered as the senses are all processed within the mind. There is no proof that the whole world is real, but people have to trust in their senses in order to believe this. However, these senses of sight, smell, sound, and so forth could be tricked.
The Matrix follows along similar lines to Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” which paints the story that as human beings there is the possibility of being tricked by shadows and programs. Descartes’ “Meditation I” tells what he experienced while immersing himself in skepticism. Descartes is more in line with Neo or the men in the cave as they are exploring the possibilities of our reality being false. Neo goes one step further in taking the pill in order to see his world had been faked.
“The Allegory of the Cave” is similar to The Matrix in the way of how the human race is being deceived. Neo is being tricked by the program called “the Matrix” when in reality he is connected to a machine along with other humans which is running “the Matrix” simulation in order to trick in the mind of going about a daily life (Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999). Plato’s theory is similar in this way as men are chained in a cave while a puppet-show is being played in front of their eyes of what they believe is truly happening (Plato). This also fits with Descartes theory that everything before us is an illusion. Descartes points out that by believing he is sitting by the fire is no different than an insane ma...

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...ce a harsher reality in order to learn more knowledge of my reality than to have a disadvantage of not knowing what is truly real.
The Matrix, Plato, and Descartes illustrate a skeptical view of how the world around us might be compiled from illusions. The senses we rely on to create our beliefs can be altered to create for a false world. Finding out our reality is false would be difficult, but it would be best to know the harshness of reality than living in ignorance. Despite not being able to prove the reliability of our beliefs, blind faith must be employed.

Works Cited
Descartes, R. (1641). Meditation I of the things of which we may doubt. In R. Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy.
Plato. (n.d.). The Allegory of the Cave. In Plato, The Republic, Book VII (pp. 514A1-518D8).
Wachowski, A., & Wachowski, L. (Directors). (1999). The Matrix [Motion Picture].

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