The Matrix And Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

The philosophical issues raised in the matrix focuses on the metaphysical and the idea of free will and ignorance. It also brings up good philosophical parallels towards Plato’s allegory of the cave and Descartes’s hypothesis of an evil demon. The matrix is used like any philosophical idea thought experiment used by philosophers like Descartes and Plato in order to reveal the nature of reality. The main question the Matrix conveys is whether or not what an individual is experiencing is real or just an illusion and questions the fear of living in a dream world. An important philosophical parallel that the matrix draws from is Plato’s allegory of the cave. Plato presents the idea of reality as an illusion and imagines individuals as prisoners since birth who perceive the world as mere shadows of what is real. A prisoner one day escapes and realizes that the real world were just shadows. Once the prisoner

The movie raises the question whether or not individual should have free will and even if they were given freedom, will they accept it? The betrayal by Cypher showed that he would rather be imprisoned then to be “free” in the matrix because reality proved to be harsh. Cypher felt more imprisoned in the real world than in the matrix and did not feel enlighten like the prisoner in Plato’s allegory of the cave. Reality showed to be more similar to Descartes evil demon than Plato’s prisoner staring at the beautiful sun in the Matrix. Plato allegory of the cave is still similar despite different scenarios, when the prisoner tries to drag people out of the cave who then precede to try to kill the prisoner. This is similar to Morpheus freeing Cypher from the matrix and showing that Cypher was willing to kill him by handing him to Agent Smith. This raises and important issue about whether ignorance is truly bliss as Cypher claims or that the individual should be saved according to Plato’s thought