Comparing Descartes And The Matrix

The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. It tells a story of a future in which reality to most humans is actually a computer program called "the Matrix”. In "the Matrix” humans are really sleep while their bodies are fed on my machines. The movie while directed to entertain audiences but also gave us many insights into philosophy. Many scenes in this movie reflect Descartes, and his many writings explaining them in a visual manner. In this paper I will show various examples of philosophy within the scenes and give commentary explaining each scene.

In Descartes “Meditations on First Philosophy” he gives his reasons for belief in a higher being aka God. He

starts off by talking about his Method of doubt. In this writing he explains before we can say what it means for something to be real or exist, we must first think about what is reality or existence or what are we living in. He goes on to say that it is useless to claim that something is real until we first know what reality is and if anything is real or fake. In the movie there were many scenes that depicted moments that the characters begin doubting the truth of everything. The one that stuck out the most was when Neo and Morpheus first met in the hotel like building and began to introduce themselves. Morpheus says” We are trained in this world to accept only what is rational and logical. Have you ever wondered why? Then Neo shakes his head. Morpheus continues on saying “As children, we do not separate the possible from the impossible which is why the younger a mind is the easier it is to free while a mind like yours can be very difficult.” Neo says “Free from what?” Morpheus says “From the Matrix.” Neo then looks at his eyes but only sees a reflection of himself. Morpheus asks “Do you want to know what it is Neo? Neo Nods and Morpheus says “It's that feeling you have had all your life. That feeling that something was wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad, driving you to me.” These scene describes method of doubt because Morpheus tell us that Neo has had this feeling that maybe reality is not what it seems to be and this makes him begin to doubt everything due to the fact that he doesn’t know if this reality is real.
Descartes’ had three reasons for doubting his beliefs (i.e., the inability to distinguish dreams from reality, the deceptive nature of sense perception, and the evil genius).

It seems as the writers of this story took directly from his writings because three scenes from this movie take these 3 reasons and almost show them verbatim to what Descartes wrote about. The first scene is when Neo is being interrogated by the agents. He doesn’t comply with them when they ask him questions about Morpheus. Agent Smith says” And tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call if you are unable to speak?” The question unnerves Neo and strangely, he begins to feel the muscles in his jaw tighten. The standing agents laugh, watching Neo's confusion grow into panic. Neo feels his lips grow soft and sticky as they slowly seal shut, melding into each other until all trace of his mouth is gone. This scene is a great example of Illusions of our senses. In this scene his senses are playing tricks on him because he can no longer speak because he has no mouth. This scene makes him question if any of this is real. The next day he wakes up only remembering the terror of the night before and not actually going home or falling asleep. He looks around and asks himself was this all just a dream. In recent days Neo keeps fading to sleep them randomly waking up in his bed he doesn’t understand anymore what is real or what is a dream. Then later on Morpheus says “Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you

were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?” This plays right in to Descartes second reason which is trying to decide whether a dream is reality or a figment of or imagination. The third reason for doubt is a deceiving god. In the matrix the deceiving god was the machines who had trapped humans in captives for hundreds of years. When Morpheus finally tells Neo about the real world Neo realizes that the god he had always thought about was just a machine that had begun deceiving him since he was alive.
Descartes also went through the process of trying to figure if he exists or not. He wrote that he didn’t know if anything existed, so how could he know he existed. He says that since he is a thinking being that he knows he exist but he also says he knows he exists because if god was deceiving us then we have to exist. We have to exist because if god is deceiving us then we have to exist for him to accomplish this. In the matrix when Neo wakes up and is explained what the matrix is he finds out he exist inadvertently. In this scene Morpheus says “ All they needed to control this new battery was something to occupy our mind. And so they built a prison out of our past, wired it to our brains and turned us into slaves.” Neo frantically responds “No! I don't believe it! It's not possible!” Morpheus Responds “ I didn't say that it would be easy, Neo. I just said that it would be the truth.” The room without walls begins to spin. Neo yells “Stop! Let me out! I want out!” Neo soon blacks out. When he finds out that his Presumption of god was just a machine deceiving him. He finds out that he is a thinking being that can be deceived. Going back to Descartes writings in order to be deceived you have to exist. So in essence Neo in this scene figures out the existence of himself.
Descartes argued that our senses are very imperfect and cannot be the source of important ideas that we have.

He talks about the subject using geometry as his example. He talks about how a triangle will never be drawn perfectly by our senses but we still have the idea of a perfect triangle in our head. He says the only way we know of such perfect triangle is reasoning. Descartes wrote that from our natural ideas from childhood we can use reasoning to find knowledge and truth. Descartes argued the only real knowledge that cannot be proved incorrect is that of reasoning. In the matrix the only thing that was known to knowledge by reason was the matrix. The matrix uses numbers that are correct and real inside the matrix or out. Math is learned by reason so in the matrix or in the real world the code that Neo knows still is true. In the end Neo finds out he is the one and in this scene he begins to see the matrix as numbers instead of looking like the real world. These numbers of the matrix are the same as in real life because no matter where you go reason will tell that the math you know is still correct. I do not think that reason can distinguish between reality and dreams because in dreams or reality math is consistent. No matter where you are if you use reasoning it well always be the same long as you using the same principles that you were birth

righted.
The world we live in is very similar to the matrix. Would we even know if we were in a computer simulation such as the matrix? In our world even if we aren’t in a computer simulation we are still controlled by this world and all of its governments and media. We rarely ever even think that we could be in a simulation or that none of this is real. All most people in the world think about is what’s the new hot thing. The reason for this is the media. They control what are minds are occupied doing at least sixty-percent of the time. Then we all try to be like what we see on the TV and never take a chance to sit back and think where we are or what is real or not. Even though this world is not a computer simulation such as the matrix we still live our lives exactly like the ones from the film. We do this because the government in our lives is identical to the one displayed in the movie. So we are still prisoners if we really think about it. Our society’s reality is controlled by our government and the idea of religion. Religion controls most people’s minds and hearts. They will listen to anything that the churches have to say then come home and listen to anything the government or media says. We are controlled without even noticing it. We have free will to do whatever we want but only within the guidelines the government or our god makes for us. Our reality is controlled by others the only think we can know is true and righteous is reason. That is the only thing we have that no matter what they tell us will always be consistently truthful. So it’s like we are in the matrix.
The Matrix was a film that helped us all understand many philosophies from older times. It helps us see that maybe we shouldn’t trust everything from our senses. It helps us notice that the only thing real in this world is reason. Then it even helped us understand that since we are thinking beings that can be deceived that we do exist as beings. The matrix is an educational and fun movie which I feel helped explain many philosophical theories and would be a great watch for anyone who is trying to further themselves in a philosophical way.