The Matrix Scenario - Am I Living in one?

HPH 102 - Question 2

423 854

MSD

Can I be rationally confident that I am not living in a Matrix scenario?  Give an argument for your answer, and critically consider the strengths and weaknesses of your position by comparison to a differing view held by one of Berkeley, Moore, Bouwsma, Nozick or Bostrom.

In this paper I will argue that I cannot be confident that I am not living in a matrix scenario by critically assessing the following premise;

1. There is no perceivable difference for homo sapiens between what we name the Matrix Scenario and reality.

The specific matrix scenario (MS) I will be discussing holds the skeptical viewpoint that reality is not in fact what I perceive it to be, but instead illusions creating my ken. This MS differs from Idealism on the grounds that it is some external source; entity, body or substance, stimulating my mind to create what I perceive as ‘reality’. This entails that the world or some parts of the world which I experience may in fact be nothing more than Barmecidal feast.

I believe there to be no arguments which prove the MS fallible. This is because if am experiencing a MS, there is no distinguishable factors between it and reality. These illusions provide the necessary components to stimulate my 5 sensory perceptions - sight, touch, smell, sound and taste – and thus my empirical self holds all the dimensions necessary to consider it as real. As presented by Bouwsma in “Descartes evil genius”, if such illusions were not consistent with certain components of natural laws, I would begin to become incredulous of what I am perceiving. To use a more simplistic example than Bouwsma’s ‘paper world’; If I had one stone in my left hand and one stone in my right, yet when I added the stones together and they added up to 3 stones, I would become doubtful. Here I can become doubtful in two ways;  

The first line of doubt can be seen as ordinary incredulity, this demands me either; proving my doubtfulness is fallible or, proving that my doubt does not necessarily have to be true. For example, if I had taken some medication which produced hallucinatory effects, I would consider that my doubt of these two rocks adding up to three may in fact be false thus, neutralising my doubts.

However, if such an experience was observed collectively on multiple occasions, and there was no logical reason for ordinary incredulity, then I would have to resort to my second form of doubt known as philosophical skepticism.  In other words, there is no viable way I can rationally conclude whether there are actually three stones, whether I am experiencing an illusion, or even whether the stones actually exist.

If Premise 1 is valid, then the following conclusions are still consistent:

1. I am living in a MS
2. I am not living in an MS

Therefore, I believe that there is no logical reasoning to suggest that I can be confident that I am not living in a MS.

Strength’s and Weaknesses of my position by differing view

I will admit to supporting Bouwsma’s view that there is no perceivable difference between the MS and reality. However, I wish to argue against Bouwsma’s statement that the Cartesian evil genius has failed at his Grand Deception of creating an illusion. I will use the instance of the movie the Matrix to present my argument. In the film, the matrix is created to deceive humans in such a way so they believe they are living in reality. However, they are in fact being used as batteries to supply power to the world of machines that actually exist. If this were the case, then the deceiver or in this instance, the program, is completely successful in his application to deceive humans. Even though this form of reality is all we know, it is still not ultimate reality and the strength of such skepticism is still valid. Furthermore, I would argue that even though there is no perceivable difference to myself between the MS and what we perceive as reality, the fact that I have liberated my consciousness to the possibility of the MS has impacted on the way I act, think and feel. It provides me with questions that are neither theistic nor atheistic, and creates a further realm of questioning for what occurs after death.