Matrix

It depicts a world equivalent to our own, whereas, the real world remains brutal to the existence of mankind. Plato’s “Real World” in “The Allegory of the Cave” is of ideal forms, a world apart. He says that every real object is a reflection of the one in the world of ideas. Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” and “The Matrix” is nearly identical in it’s approach. Together they have suggested that the most common appearances do not depict reality, and that while doing so, gaining the truth changes one’s life. Both Plato and the Matrix contend that given everyday world is illusionary the notion of being conscious, with that of true liberty, and the ignorance of humanity to its position in a higher stance.

The elements of philosophy are heavily presented in the Matrix. The film describes a world in which the supposed Matrix is an artificial reality created by conscious machines in order to pacify and subdue the human population. The perpetrators of this horror are machines of the future that use humans as a source of power. In many ways, The Matrix is about a kind of reality enforcement, or similarly, hyperrealism. In Christianity, the world we live in is illustrated as a Matrix, and by achieving enlightenment; you’re escaping that Matrix. The central character of the film, Neo, is presented to us in the opening part of the film as an outsider who’s incisively searching for a mysterious character called Morpheus (named after the Greek god of dreams and sleep) and the answer to the Matrix. The Matrix presents a substratum, a real world open rationing underground. InThe Matrix, the two worlds are far less continuous with one another. It illustrates a division of worlds; idealistic and materialistic, the difference between the two is that according to Plato, real world items are based in the world of ideas. One of the topics of the film is Neo’s struggle to accept his role as the One, the savior of humanity. He is the subject of a number of prophecies made by the Oracle. Likewise, Plato’s insight of the role played by the form of the good only points the way to the complete answer that Plato would have us seek out. In this way, Neo draws the viewer to think for themselves in the same way that Socrates wished his interlocutors to feel the sting of the realization of their ignorance as a motivation to join him in inquiry and care of the soul.

The allegory of the Cave is part of Plato’s way of having an understanding of Socrates’ philosophical life. Plato explores the idea that the real world is an illusion in the allegory of the cave. He imagines a cave in which people are born and are deceived by puppeteers who cast shadows using fires above and behind those in the cave, and because these images are all they’ve ever seen, they believe these images represent the real world. These people are bound in such a way that they can look only straight ahead. For them, this is reality, given that they know of no other, and will not accept it unless they were forced to meet it. One day, a prisoner escapes his bonds. He looks behind him and sees that what he thought was the real world is actually an elaborate set of shadows, which free people create with statues and the light from a fire. He then decides that the statues are actually the real world, not the shadows. Fully aware of true reality, he must return to the cave and try to teach others what he knows. The puppet-handlers, represent the influential, powerful members of society. The experience of this prisoner is a metaphor for the process by which rare human beings free themselves from the world of appearances, and with the help of philosophy, perceive the world truly. The real worlds as Plato depicts it are the forms beyond the senses, and the everyday experiences are the shadows depicted on the cave wall. Plato believed that the world as we see it, is not real but a mere illusion, a copy of the real world to be more precise. His subject matter overall was to demonstrate that the life of a person is essentially preferable to any other life when he analyses the concept of justice. Justice, as Socrates puts it, is shown to be a property of a soul in which the three parts do their proper work and oppose doing the job of another part.

The Matrix is more political than mystical as in Plato’s vision. Both Plato’s Cave and the Matrix plays with the question; are we truly conscious of our reality? Both storylines argue that humanity remains oblivious to its position in a greater aspect. Both attribute the notion of being conscious, with that of true liberty. The One is a Postmodernist not a Platonist. For most postmodernist his concern is to break the bondage of societies codes that restrict human freedom, and accomplish true freedom from an endless mental bondage. Neo’s movements toward greater understanding parallel the movements of the prisoner in the cave whose bonds are loosened. Together they radically suggest that ordinary appearances do not depict reality, and that with that, gaining the truth changes one’s life. Billions upon billions of people unknowingly live out their lives in a virtual reality, despite the fact that many precedents still exist for the implication that the real world is an illusion. While Plato considers his solution is education on the transcendental nature of truth, in the Matrix “the One” gains the power to transcend the system’s original programming and control the system as he sees fits. The allegory of the Cave issues a pointed challenge: in what way are we living lives of diminished prospect, resting content with our knowledge, failing even to ask the right questions? These are precisely the questions Morpheus puts to Neo. And like Morpheus, Plato’s pessimism about the human condition gives way to an optimistic view of the power of education to liberate anyone.