Alves 1
Torri Alves
Professor Nathan Scheck
PHIL 201-B46
16 February 2015.
Philosophy Essay
The Matrix, Descartes Meditation and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave all discuss the
issue of reality. Each of these excerpts from the real pieces of works takes a different
approach to discuss the reality of the real world versus the dream world. The Matrix is
from the perspective of a man names Mr. Anderson, who also goes by Neo. Neo begins to
questions if he is living in the real world or if he is constantly dreaming. He meets
Morpheus who gives him this pill, which then takes him to the Matrix. The Matrix is
where humans are laying unconsciously in machines and are living virtual lives through a
computer simulation. Neo experiences many emotions, such as fear, confusion, and
acceptance, while in the Matrix. Cypher is another individual who experiences the
Matrix, but he decides he does not want to live this way. He wants to erase the memories
of the truth of the Matrix and go back to his old way of living.
Descartes presents similarities to which Neo is experiencing in the Matrix.
Descartes, like Neo, begins to questions parts of reality. He starts to believe he may be
dreaming and just seeing illusions. He believes one cannot distinguish if they are awake
or asleep, which is also how Neo often feels. One thing, Descartes differs with from the
Matrix, is Descartes realizes that one cannot form images while sleeping if they were not
real is some form. Neo never shoes this thought process. Another way Descartes differs
from this section of the Matrix is that he does not want to fall back into his former beliefs
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he held, even though he eventually does. Cypher in the Matrix, displayed just the
opposite, he wanted nothing more than to return to his old life and escape the memories
of the truth the Matrix gave him.
Although Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is presenting the same topic issue of
battling reality versus the dream world, Plato goes about discussing the topic in a
different way than The Matrix and Descartes. Plato’s excerpt is a conversation held
between Socrates and Glaucon. One similar thing between this excerpt and The Matrix
are both conversations being held between two people about reality, whereas the excerpt
by Descartes is just his own reflection of his thoughts. Plato uses the analogy of prisoners
in a cave to discuss how people see reality.
Plato, instead of discussing the idea of dreaming and living in a dream world, he
uses an analogy of prisoners who are in cave with a light at the end of it. These prisoners
however are not allowed to turn their heads or speak to one another; as a result all they
can see are shadows of objects. They only know reality by the shadows of these objects.
Plato is using more of a “what if” situation to discuss reality and illusions, rather than
telling it from personal experience such as The Matrix and Descartes. Plato offers
alternatives to what reality could be if the prisoners were allowed to see the objects for
what they really are and not just shadows. Neo and Cypher in the The Matrix, as well as
Descartes, were revealed truth about reality, which made them then think of their beliefs
differently. Plato differs from this because he wans the prisoners to be able to know the
truth behind the shadows of the objects, so that they may experience true reality and have
knowledge for themselves.
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One way for us to know that we are living in and experiencing a real world and
not just dreaming because like stated before, in order for us to see images in a dream they
must be real in some sense. Also our senses play a vital role in allowing us to know we
are living in a real world. Although sometimes sense can mislead us, they are very
important when we are forming our beliefs. We also know we are not living in a cave
because we see images for more than just their shadows. We see images as the objects
they are and we have knowledge about how they function.
