Compare And Contrast The Matrix And The Allegory Of The Cave

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Compare and contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences?
The similarities from the three readings, Synopsis: The Matrix, Mediations on First Philosophy and The Republic are about conditions the mind senses. All three readings have people being held captive by supposedly higher beings and speaking figuratively, all seeing shadows. First, the “Allegory of the Cave” excerpt from The Republic, discusses how people who have been restrained in a cave, can only see shadows of things as they pass by in the lighted opening. The noises the confined people hear can only be related to the shadows and this is their reality. Secondly, in “The Matrix” people are also restrained but in a suspended animation and are hard wired to a computer with their life playing out, their form of shadows, being programmed into their brains. …show more content…
The senses are only able to perceive what is thought to be known. It would be like putting a human in a room at birth and never letting them see anyone. The person being held captive could be afforded things of the world but the names of items changed. For example, if given an apple the captive would be told it is an orange or attribute cat sounds to a dog and so on with different items. Their reality would be skewed as we know it but it would be their own reality and not shared by others. Once released from captivity they would have to wonder if they had been deceived. They would try and understand if what they are now seeing is reality or just a dream. In the movie “The Matrix” Neo watches a child bend a spoon. The child gives Neo a chance to bend it but explains to Neo that he can’t do it because it doesn’t exist. The only way Neo can bend it, is to change his mind, because the spoon is not reality, the spoon is in the matrix. (Wachowski) In each of the three readings there has to be a change of the mind to understand the
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Compare and Contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences? An Essay Submitted to Jason Elvis BY Williestine Harriel Liberty University online September 24, 2012 Compare and Contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences? After reading The Matrix, and reading from Plato and Descartes, I find that there are some similarities and differences…

Words 896 - Pages 4