Reality In The Film Clip Of The Matrix

In the film clip of the Matrix, the main character Neo came in contact with a young boy with a spoon. This boy then proceeded to tell Neo that “there is no spoon”. By saying this, the boy touched upon the question of reality and whether or not it is real. This is important because if there is no reality then our lives are really just inside our heads and everything that we perceive to be real actually is not. This then would mean that everything--our morals, values, everything that “makes” us a human being is not real, it is just an illusion. If there is no reality then our morals and values do not exist because they are made up. And also, if there were no reality then perhaps there also is no human being as well. Idealism and materialism

Idealism’s theory about reality is that it is not real but made up by our minds. Idealists believe that reality is not a material thing but more of a consciousness. Some idealists, such as George Berkeley, believe that the physical world only exists when it is being perceived, so therefore when you are not looking at an object it does not exist. Idealists believe that everything we hear, smell, taste, and touch are just illusions created by our minds.This theory of reality applies to the clip and the question of reality. It applies to it because this theory of reality states that reality is something created in our minds, just like the spoon was a product of the boy’s and Neo’s mind and not a real, physical thing. This theory questions whether or not reality is real, just like how in the clip the boy states that “it is not the spoon that bends, only ourselves.” This means that because the spoon is a product of our minds, we cannot physically make the spoon bend because the spoon is not real. You can only change it by “bending” or changing it in your mind. A counterexample to this theory would be materialism. Materialism uses science, senses, and instruments to prove that reality is real and that what we perceive is not a figment of our imagination or consciousness. Idealists believe that reality is just created by your mind, however, when you walk away from something, such as a building or a forest it does not disappear. Also, in Berkeley’s idealism he talks about how if someone isn’t perceiving something that it does not exist, however, God is the one always perceiving things which is why we can see things all the time. However, we cannot prove that there is a god or a spiritual being perceiving everything all the time which is why this theory does not