The Matrix Essays (1018 words) - The Matrix, Australian Films

The Matrix The Matrix In viewing the Matrix, a 1999 Warner Brothers/Village Roadshow Picture release, there are numerous references to philosophy portrayed in the movie. In analyzing the Matrix one will be able to see how Descartes' Meditations on Methodic doubt, his Evil Genius Hypothesis, and Plato's allegory of the cave are portrayed in this film. According to Descartes' Meditation on methodic doubt he tries to achieve absolute certainty about the nature of everything. In order to acquire absolute certainty, Descartes must first lay a complete foundation of integrity on which to build up his knowledge. The technique that he uses to lay this foundation is doubt. Descartes starts by looking at our usual sources of truth such as physics, astronomy, and medicine. He looks at these truths and doubts them feeling that these are not reliable sources of truth because time shows that we are all eventually proven wrong, much in the same way that science has been proven wrong over the courses of history. In relation to the Matrix, the Matrix is ?everywhere.? According to Morpheus, the leader of the resistance, The Matrix is everywhere; it is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it as you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth (Matrix Movie). The truth that Morpheus speaks about is the truth that everyone in Neo's world, including Neo has been born into slavery. They have been born into a ?prison? built for their mind. In regards to the meditations Morpheus is telling Neo that the world that he lives in is merely a false idea and should be doubted. However, telling Neo what the Matrix consists of is not enough. To fully understand what the Matrix is Neo will have to choose whether he wishes to learn about the Matrix or to believe what ever he wants to believe. Descartes' methodic doubt can also be seen, as he doubts the senses. He considers the generally accepted view that our senses dependably report the absolute nature of reality, but discards the senses as a source of truth because of the dream argument, which states that there is no definite way of proving that you are either dreaming or that you are awake. Therefore it is possible that everything that we believe is false, making the senses an unreliable source. This dream argument can be seen in the beginning of the Matrix as Neo is told to ?wake up? by his computer. After ?waking? up, his computer tells him that ?the Matrix has you? he is confused with what is going on with his computer, the computer then continues to tell him to ?follow the white rabbit? and the conversation is then interrupted by someone knocking at his door. The person at his door is one of Neo's clients making a deal with him for a computer disk in exchange for money. His client looks at Neo and tells him that he looks ?whiter? than usual. Neo still confused with what just happened to his computer says to his client have ?you ever had that feeling where you're not sure that your awake or still dreaming? (Matrix Movie). Neo here is confused with what is going on and does not know what is reality and what is a dream. Another instance in the Matrix that show's this argument is after Neo has taken the red pill from Morpheus and is getting ready to be transferred out of the Matrix. While getting ready to be transferred out of the Matrix into the real world, Neo touches a broken glass mirror and the glass from the mirror transforms to become part of his body. Neo questions what is happening to him and Morpheus tells Neo ?have you ever had a dream Neo that you were so sure it was real. What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference from the real world and the dream world(Matrix Movie) The glass