Philosophy of the Matrix

Philosophy of the Matrix

Great philosophers originated thousands of years ago. Then, their theories changed the thought process of many. Today, these philosophers and their theories are still influencing life, even in the media. The Matrix is a perfect model of theories by Descartes, Plato, Socrates, many other philosophers.

Computer hacker, Neo, has lived a relatively normal life until he is contacted by the mystifying Morpheus, who leads him into the real world. In reality, it is 200 years later, and the world has been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines. The computers have created a false version of 20th century life, known as the "Matrix," to keep the humans satisfied. Neo, pursued constantly by "Agents," computers who take on human form and infiltrate the Matrix, is believed to be "The One" who will lead the humans to overthrow the machines and reclaim the Earth.

Elements of philosophy are heavily present in "The Matrix." Other central themes include the free will versus fate debate and the nature of reality, perception, enlightenment, and existence. In many ways "The Matrix" is about a kind of reality enforcement, or similarly, hyper reality. One of the major issues in the film is the question of the validity of the world around us, such as; what is reality, or whether what is happening is merely sensory information fed to us?

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Morpheus asks Neo: "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?" Morpheus is not the first to ask such questions. The philosopher RenÐ"© Descartes asked very similar questions in the seventeenth century. Descartes and Neo of the Matrix have a similar dilemma. They both know that what seems to be reality is not actually real. Descartes tried to show that our knowledge of the world around us is undoubtful even though he imagined that we would not be able to tell the difference between the real world and a very similar dream world if we were living in the dream world. Descartes had said that we might be deceived by a "powerful demon," the seventeenth century version of the computers deceiving the people living in the Matrix.

Morpheus also asks Neo: "What is Ð''real'? How do you define Ð''real'? If you are talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then Ð''real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." Morpheus is explaining to Neo that his basis of reality is around a computer program that deceives his senses. If Neo's explanation of reality is linked to senses, his notion of reality is false. On that same note, Descartes believes we cannot base reality on our senses because they deceive us.

Descartes believed that in order for one to begin to understand what is clear and distinct, the mind must rid itself of all prejudice, as seen in the synopsis to the First Meditation of Descartes. "I will now shut my eyes, stop my ears, and withdraw all my senses. I will eliminate from my thoughts all images of bodily things, or rather, since this

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is hardly possible, I will regard all such images as vacuous, false and worthless." (Descartes, 3rd Meditation) Descartes wanted to build his new reality world from scratch. In the Matrix, Neo, must do the same in order to understand "reality."

When we dream we feel we are experiencing reality. Descartes questions what determines our waking feelings from our dream feelings. He searches for a single property that could separate these two worlds. In the midst of searching for this property he is sure exists, he realizes that he has the ability to doubt all that he knows. He then has an epiphany; he is a thinking being. His ability to doubt meant he was able to think. His ability to think concluded him to be a thinking being; Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). His realization that he is a thinking being is more real than anything his senses would ever perceive.

Descartes believes outer reality has certain characteristics that we could perceive without our reason. These are the mathematical properties, the kinds of things that are measurable, such as; length, depth, weight, volume, etc. Such quantitative properties are just as clear and distinct to reason as the fact that "I am a thinking being." Quantitative properties such as; color, smell, taste, are linked to our sense of perception and do not describe outer reality.

The quantitative properties of an object are the distinguishing points separating the real world from the dream world. When our reason recognizes something dreary and distinctly (as is the case for the mathematical properties of outer reality) it must necessarily be so. A perfect God would not deceive us. Descartes claims "God's guarantee" that no matter what we perceive with our reason also corresponds to reality.

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It is important for Descartes to prove God's existence for his theory of knowledge. To understand why, we must first understand his theory of knowledge. Descartes believes that the human mind is the only measurement where existence can be figured out as a fact. According to him, knowledge involves reason and rationality. Knowledge involves: clear and distant ideas, certainty, known independently perceptions and deceiving, and that we cannot rely on our perceptions to give us the truth. The one thing that is certain and that he can prove is the existence of God. From this starting point, we can build knowledge.

Descartes asked himself if there was anything more he could establish with the same certainty. He came to the conclusion that he had a distinct and clear idea of a perfect existence. The arguments to prove God's existence are: A cause must precontain the reality of its effect; There are degrees of reality; Something cannot come from anything; Everything must have a cause; The objective reality of an idea must have a cause; This cause must be the formal reality of something; The cause of an idea must have as much formal reality as the idea contains objective reality. Descartes core argument states: Only a perfect God has as much formal reality as my idea of God contains objective reality; The cause of my idea of God is a perfect God; A perfect God exists. To conclude this argument, Descartes makes these final points in his "sequel": To deceive is an imperfection; God is not a deceiver; if my clear and distinct perceptions