The Matrix Philosophy

The Matrix (1999) is an excellent movie that explores various important philosophical values. These values include: The true nature of reality, whether a person is considered to be their mind or their body, the truth about “free” will and what a meaningful life truly is. The movie touches on all these topics often in well hidden and cryptic ways. By critically examining important plot points from The Matrix and comparing their similarity to various philosophical hypotheses and ideologies the movie can be greatly enhanced.

Morpheus first takes Neo into the “Construct” loading program to show him the true nature of the Matrix and what the truth is. When Neo asks if what he is seeing is not real, Morpheus responds by pointing out that if you

Descartes considers that everything around him is nothing but illusions and traps set up by this evil genius. He also considers that he has no physical form (no flesh, no eyes, etc) even though he falsely believes that he has one. Descartes also remarks on how he will try to “suspend his judgement” and not give credibility to false things. He also mentions how this is a very “laborious” task. Staying ignorant to this fact would be much easier. This is reflected in The Matrix, when Neo exits the Construct and begins to puke after learning about his new reality, because he does not want to accept that everything he has known is wrong. In Descartes’ thought experiment reality was what ever the evil demon decided to feed to Descartes non-physical body. For the Humans still stuck in the Matrix their reality is the Matrix, for them the Matrix is as real as it gets. There is no way for them to know any other realities. This concept is also reflected in Plato’s allegory of the cave, where prisoners are chained in such a way that they can not move nor turn their head and all they see are shadows cast

This is explained in the movie as the Matrix being so real that the mind subconsciously perceives it as reality and if someone were to receive a fatal wound the brain would shut off believing it has actually been killed and since the body cannot live without the brain, the person outside the Matrix ceases to live. This defines a person as their mind rather than their body. A body without a mind is simply an object, but the consciousness of a mind is what gives someone their “status” as a person. This type of thinking is reflected in subjective idealism, a form of monism that argues that there is no “physical” everything can be reduced to mental objects and the one real thing is the mind. George Berkeley was a strong supporter of this form of idealism and makes arguments like: an apple is an apple because of it’s combination of sensory inputs like taste, feel, smell etc. All of these inputs are processed in the mind and without it this item would not exist. This ties directly into his motto: “esse est percipi” (to be is to be perceived.) In the context of The Matrix this theory fits in perfectly with the idealistic argument already mentioned about perception and reality. The very existence of the Matrix within the film supports Berkeley’s thoughts on subjective idealism because for those plugged into the Matrix their reality is in their mind, for them, there is no body, everything they see