The Matrix And Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Every individual spends their entire life trying to understand what reality is; however, because reality consist of two forms- perceived reality and actual reality, it is essential that you understand both in order to truly comprehend reality. Perceived reality is one’s perception of reality based on personal experiences and surroundings. Actual reality is actual and definite or the factual aspect of reality. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Dick Gregory’s “Shame” and Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” illustrate examples of reality being composed of two different perceptions and how the ability to comprehend both is necessary in order to conceptualize

Plato wanted to tell the other prisoners about his new discovery but then thought that the first knowledge was easier for them to believe. He thought that the men who were chained in the Allegory of the Cave had to find a way to escape so that they can go and seek the truth about the world . On the other hand, when Neo realized that the world he was living in was an illusion, he wanted to learn the truth about the real world. Both Plato and the Matrix were compelled to finding out what the real truth about the world was. However, their acceptance of the truth was

In life, the world one lives in is always assumed to be the reality, without anyone questioning its credibility. As Iris Murdoch once said, “[People] live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.”(Iris Murdoch Quotes). In The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, prisoners are trapped in a cave and chained so that they are to face a wall and only see the shadows of objects that pass behind them. However, one prisoner is released and forced out into the reality, allowing the reader to understand that the world one sees and experiences is not the reality, but rather an illusion. Similarly, in The Truman Show by Andrew Niccol, Truman Bank has been growing up in Seahaven Island, a place created just for him to live in for a television show that is all about him. Throughout the film, Truman realizes that Seahaven is not the real world, and viewers see his journey to get out of this illusion, and into reality outside the false world. Both The Allegory of the Cave and The Truman Show prove that the physical world is an illusion that prevents one from discovering reality. The concept of illusion versus reality is evident in both works through similarities in plot, similarities in symbolism, and differences in character.

In ‘The Matrix’ and Plato’s allegory of the cave the protagonists are exposed to a new reality that entails an unknown environment that seems to be unrealistic and impossible. In order to understand what they are seeing they have to accept that the new reality is more feasible than the one they previously lived in. ‘The Matrix’ portrays the protagonist, Neo, as a man who is a prisoner to a computer program without realizing there is another reality other than the one he is trapped in. When he is exposed to the truth and is forced out of his comfortable ignorance into a seemingly impossible reality it requires a tremendous effort to accept it. In the first stages of Neo’s discovery he is confronted by Morpheus who states, “I imagine you must feel a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole”. This quote perfectly embodies how Neo is feeling the new reality. He is confused, scared and uncomfortable with the new environment he is being introduced to in the story. Although after a

The journey out of the cave represents a prisoners’ unwilllingness to change and a resistance to accept new truths. The prisoners have to force themselves out of the cave into this reality. Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society.

Within Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, and Descartes Meditation I, there are multiple similarities and differences in them. Reality is questionable within both of these stories. There is skepticism in them on whether they are truly living, and if it is real, or if it is controlled by something else entirely. In both stories, they also wanted to leave what they understood to be reality, to find what they thought and sensed to be the true reality.

Imagine a country in which the only emotions you feel are joy and happiness but underneath all of this lies a terrible fact. The story Those who walk away from Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin tells of all this and it can greatly be compared to The Allegory of the cave by Plato, The book 1984 by George Orwell and to The United States of America in many ways.

Plato’s Allegory of the cave represents life/death/rebirth. Life/death/rebirth is a popular archetype that most authors use in fictional books. Plato’s Allegory of the cave begins with people that are locked in chains inside of a cave. The people inside the cave see shadows on the wall of animals and creatures that they think represents their life. This cave is an illusion of life that the people are experiencing. The people who are chained up get set free by the keeper, who is a symbol of the sun, or the “Rooster” who wakes people up from their illusions. The people are blinded by the sun and they want to go back to their illusion of life. This is when the people are in the Belly of the Whale or when they are symbolically dead. Once the people realize there is no way of going back to the way it was, they are “reborn” from their illusions and live their lives to the fullest and not take for granted what they have. Plato’s Allegory of the cave is

In the allegory of the cave, Plato’s main goal is to illustrate his view of knowledge. A group of prisoners have been chained in a cave their whole lives and all they have ever been exposed to were shadows on the wall and voices of people walking by. The prisoners in the cave represent humans who only pay attention to the physical aspects of the world (sight and sound). Once one of them escapes and sees the blinding light, all he wants is to retreat back to the cave and return to his prior way of living. This shows that Plato believes enlightenment and education are painful, but the pain is necessary for enlightenment and it is worth it. Once he finally gets past the pain and is able to view the truth of the world, he feels pity for the

When the enlightened prisoner returns to the cave “they all laugh at him and say he had spoiled his eyesight by going up there”(Plato __). Plato infers that society will purposely be blind to conform to society’s norms.When the escaped prisoner returns to the cave he “gets his eyes full of darkness” (Plato ___). The freed prisoner explains what the actual objects were that they were seeing were. Plato demonstrates that the ignorance and blindness to the truth is by choice. Plato says the prisoners that are chained up could not fathom the new truths; they are

An individual’s life journey is linked to the process of enlightenment, which can be achieved when one realizes the world they have been dwelling in is an illusion and is not under their own control. The science-fiction movie The Matrix, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, and Golden-Globe award winning film The Truman Show all have the same underlying theme of escaping an artificial reality. “The Allegory of the Cave” is a dialogue that criticizes human perception. In the dialogue, prisoners draw a parallel between the dwellers in the cave who believe the shadows on the walls are real to humans who believe in perceptions based on empirical knowledge. In the movie, The Matrix “the matrix” is a computer engineered world that is blinding individuals from the truth. The film The Truman Show, displays the life progression of Truman Burbank from the artificial world to the real world.

In Plato’s allegory of the cave he enplanes the effect of society. In the allegory there are people chained in a cave. All they know are the shadows that they see. The shadows are being made by the shadow master who is in front of a fire. So if the shadow master shows them a shadow of a toy dragon then the people in the cave will believe that dragons are real because they saw the shadow. When one of the person is allowed to leave the cave and see the real world they don’t believe it. Even more when they return to the cave to tell the others. The others won’t believe the person that left because all they know is the shadows. That’s why Plato says “[…] that the true analogy for this indwelling power in the soul and the instrument whereby each of us apprehends is that of an eye that could not be converted to the light from darkness except by turning the whole body.” (Plato 750). This is true because we have the freedom to look, to find out what truth is out there, and yet we choice not to because we are content looking at the shadows that others cast and accepting that as truth. In the Handmaid’s Tale the house where Offred lives at has days where everyone gathers in the living room to her the commander read from the bible. The commander’s wife puts one the news to pass the time until the commander shows up. Offred says

Truth is often a term that is taken into consideration when one is verbally speaking, but most find it rather difficult to truly define truth. While every person can attempt to uniquely give their own interpretation to what the world regards as truth, the realm of philosophy presents several brilliants ideas about the concept. In general, the study of philosophy recognizes two truths: objective and subjective. Objective truth can be described as truth that has always existed whether one knows it or not, while subjective truth is dependent on the person’s ideas and feelings towards a reality. Influential and well-known philosophers such as Mortimer J. Adler and Plato have contributed thoughts that often present similar ideas about the definition

Plato’s Republic, Book 7, talks about the metaphor referred to as "the allegory of the cave." This metaphor in philosophy is use to describe the importance and effect education or lack of education has on the human mind. In book VII, education is referred to as a light that brightens the different paths that exist in life. It helps open the human mind to things that it was unaware of. Another point made in book VII, was that by educating yourself you become less ignorant to what is out there in the world.

In what ways did the writings of Plato’s Republic and Hayy ibn Yaqzan foreshadow the theme of enlightenment?