Summary Of The Republic Of Plato And The Matrix

What is reality? Is it a fictional creation individuals have created for themselves over a course of centuries? What is real; what is not real? In Allan Bloom’s, The Republic of Plato, originally, The Republic, by Plato, is based off of Plato’s teacher, Socrates’, work. Plato used Socrates’ work as a means to write the “Allegory of the Cave” and uncover the true meanings behind: what is true form? What do individuals deem as being real? The Matrix, a 1999 science fiction film, starring Keanu Reeves, illustrates a reality for humans that is actually a simulated reality, known as “the Matrix.” Furthermore, in both pieces of work, The Republic of Plato and The Matrix, function as a means to discover what is physical existence and what is perceived

Though it takes time, the prisoner is able to adjust; Stephen Buckle writes, “Speak of ‘mental gaze’: an expression which evokes precisely the metaphor of a mental vision – of knowing as seeing with ‘the mind’s eye’ – that is a cornerstone of Plato’s allegory of the sun” (Buckle 313). Along with the “Allegory of the Cave,” comes the “Allegory of Light,” which serves its purpose of emphasizing Plato’s views, “The sun reaches its greatest development as a symbol in Plato,” (James A. Notopoulos 223). The light, moreover, serves as a means of finding reality, something the prisoner strives to do and teach his fellow prisoners about (finding the light). Additionally, the abstract understanding of both fire and light can be linked to Plato’s ideas of enlightenment. Plato writes, “Then, the release from the bonds and the turning around from the shadows to the phantoms and the light, the way up from the cave to the sun; and, once there, the persisting inability to look at the animals and the plants and the sun’s light, and looking instead at the divine appearances in water and at the shows of the things that are…” (Bloom 211). Furthermore, the concept of the sun serves an important element in the “Allegory of the Cave,” as it resembles a higher source, or as Plato would say, a pure form. Notopoulos writes, “He therefore found in the sun of Greek tradition a highly developed

Rogers writes, “The face that is it the Idea of the Good which supplies the philosopher [Plato] with his concrete pattern for ordering the state is evidence in his favor” (Rogers 62). Plato puts great emphasis on detailing the path, or rather, the struggle is takes towards discovering the truth. Furthermore, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a direct correlation to Plato’s views on education. Plato writes, “I shall attempt to make at least my opinion plain. Join me in looking at the things I distinguish for myself as leading or not leading to what we are speaking of; and agree or disagree so that we may see more clearly whether this is as I divine it to be” (Bloom 202). Additionally, Plato uses the “Allegory of the Cave” to symbolism that the truth does not always mean the truth, until proven otherwise, “And, further, I don’t suppose you would easily find many studies that take greater effort in the learning and in the practice than this” (Bloom 205). Furthermore, another similarity which lies between the two is the force of a greater power above. In the “Allegory of the Cave,” the higher power came from those in the “world” – those who did not reside in the cave, “And, also, that the power of dialectic alone could reveal it to a man experienced in the things we just went through, while it is in no other way possible?” (Bloom 212). In The Matrix, it is the society being controlled by