English 101/103
Matrix
SUSPICIOUS ABOUT LIFE AS YOU KNOW IT? COME TO THE MATRIX!
Would you believe a philosopher if he told you our senses cannot be and should not be trusted? Would you consider there is an evil deceiver? What if a computer program was all you knew, but it was designed to manipulate your mind? In the movie, The Matrix, Neo is forced not to depend on his senses and life he knows as reality. A famous philosopher by the name Rene Descartes wrote a book named, Meditation on First Philosophy, and his philosophical point of view helps distinguish the difference between mind and body through meditation. This connects to Neo in the movie The Matrix because he is constantly trying to distinguish what is real or not by comparing his mind certainty to what his senses forces him to believe. In this essay, I will discuss Descartes’s book and the ways it relates to Neo’s character in The Matrix; also I will discuss how they’re both forced not to trust anything physical to the eye because of the "differiation" between the mind and body. The two realize you have to question everything because you can only trust certainty and certainty lies within the mind.
In 1641, Descartes wrote a book named, "Meditation on First Philosophy." The book discussed his acceptance for "false opinions for true," which can be doubted. This connects to the movie because Neo initially accepts any physical matter to be certain until he enters the world of the matrix. While living on Earth Neo adapted to his surroundings causing him to adopt the cultural beliefs, in which he is to trust his five senses. Later, he realizes even physical objects can be highly doubted. Descartes’s reason for believing anything he sees as real was because he was "convinced" as a child and accepted "many false opinions for true." Rene Descartes applied this rule for everyone and decided we all were convinced at a young age to trust our senses. At first, Neo’s mind and body constantly conflicts because the only world he knew was Earth and it was a place where you depended on your five senses. Descartes rejected the belief in trusting your senses and "adopted, and of commencing anew the work of building from the foundation." By "adopting this foundation," Rene Descartes says he was able to "overthrow all former opinions" meaning everything he thought was true as a child he freed from his mind. Descartes related anything new he adopted as an adult to be based on science and math because they were certain. Certain in a way that they cannot be wrong because no matter how many times you solve the same problem you will get the same answer when dealing with both fields. Certainty is the foundation used for Descartes’s new "firm and abiding superstructure." Descartes distinguished the difference between something being true and something being certain. Some things can be true, but we do not know if it is certain. However, if something is certain it cannot possibly be false. This brings about the questioning of out five senses and can they be trusted. Well, Descartes says our five senses cannot be trusted.
Descartes says our five senses cannot be trusted because it is not certain like the mind. In The Matrix, Morpheus gives Neo two choices in choosing the red or blue pill. The red pill offers Neo insight on the truth about the matrix. The blue pill allows Neo to go back to his ordinary life as Thomas Anderson consisting of a regular job and his normal routine. As Neo goes about his everyday life he knows something is peculiar because he can perceive another world in his ordinary life. The audience is expecting Neo to take the red pill based off the beginning of the movie when he makes it very clear that he has a curiosity about the matrix and persistent in finding the answer. There is a scene,
in beginning of the movie, when Neo is in a car with Switch and Trinity, which are two female individuals who are already a part of the matrix. These women are talking to Neo and trying to convince him why choosing the red pill will be his best choice. Switch says, "Listen to me, coppertop! We don’t have time for ‘twenty questions’ right now there is only one option. Our way or the high way." (Wachowski, 24) Neo responds by saying, "Fine" (24) and opening the car door. Trinity stops him by saying, "Neo, please, you have to trust me." Neo ask, "Why?" (24) Trinity finally says, "Because you’ve been down there, Neo. You already know that road. You know exactly where it ends." (25) As a result, Neo choose the red pill because now he knows there is another world other than the world he lives in and that is the matrix. Descartes would say the reason behind Neo’s decision in choosing the red pill is because his mind knows it is real, so it’s real. Neo had the option to gain knowledge about the matrix and he took it as oppose to ignoring it.
There is a distinct difference between reality and imagination when dealing with the mind and body.
The body cannot live without the mind. Reality is considered everything inside the mind like thinking and doubting. Imagination is everything we use or come in contact with outside the body that involves us using our five senses. Epistemology in philosophy terms means, "theory of knowledge" this comes into place with the mind and body because knowledge is gained by thinking. One example would be wax. Let’s say we have two boxes of wax, one box of wax has fire underneath and the other does not. Of course we know based on logic that the box of wax under the fire will melt causing the form to change. If it was up to our senses the box of wax in solid form and the box of wax in liquid form would be considered different. The mind allows you to process that the box of solid wax is the same as the box of liquid wax, but they’re in different forms.
If something can be doubted Descartes suggest us not to trust it because it cannot be certain. This goes into the method of doubt. The method of doubt is about certainty. Certainty is based off foundation. Foundation is always true like math and science. Descartes based everything off the foundation of math and science because the results are always certain. He based everything on math and science do to the fact that he knew everything would be certain if based off these foundations. Something’s can be true, but we cannot always be certain. However, if something is certain it cannot possibly be false. Our senses not being trusted are based on two phenomena’s, which are hallucination and dreams. Our senses make us believe what we are looking at is real when dealing with hallucination. Likewise, in dreams our senses have us under the impressions that were in an actual place or time. Throughout, the movie Neo is constantly being plugged into a computer program that manipulates his mind. Neo learns to think rationally and uses common knowledge to gain power of the body through the mind. Hallucinations and dreams are both ways our senses deceive us. When we hallucinate we believe what is in our sight is true because our senses tell us so. Likewise, in our dreams we are also being deceived because our senses have us under the impression that we are in this actual place or time because we can feel everything, hear everything, touch, taste and smell everything, but we are only dreaming. "The fact that you can doubt something, have a dream, think and have an illusions means you exist"
"I think therefore I am." This is Descartes signature quote. This quotes means whenever you are thinking, doubting or having an illusion it is certain you exist because someone has to do the thinking, doubting and having the illusion. But he then says what if there was an evil deceiver? Would we know? The answer to that would be no. Like Morpheus who is constantly telling Neo what is true and what not to believe; Neo has no idea as to what is real or not because Morpheus has him plugged into a computer. Neo experiences a virtual reality while being plugged into the computer program. Virtual reality is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world as well as in imaginary worlds. When Neo is plugged into the computer his mind is one place and his body is another. However, this was not Neo’s first encounter with virtual reality. Every time Neo is plugged into the matrix he is aware that he is dreaming. Once, Neo is unplugged from the matrix and plugged back into the matrix he able to pin point what is real based on his mind and senses. For example, the first time Neo is plugged into the computer program he sees a chair and television set. Neo’s first thought was the chair and television has to be real because I can see it and touch it. However, Morpheus says, "What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you feel, taste, smell or see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." (Wachowski 39) Eventually, Neo accepts nothing of sensory substance to be real. Neo acquires what is real as he continues on his journey through the matrix. Neo’s discovery of this new reality within the matrix is similar to the way Rene Descartes revealed his own discovery due to the fact that they both depended on their senses at first, but learned to question everything. Rene Descartes ended up waiting until he got a certain age to adopt a new foundation of viewing the truth.
Neo’s first comprehension of the matrix seems complicated, puzzling, and shocking because it is nothing he had ever seen before. The truth seemed like a blur to Neo at first, but once he gained full knowledge and became certain of the circumstance of being a major part of another world he became accepting. Descartes efforts to making the world see the difference between the mind and body seemed almost unbelievable. Usually a movie can help people see things a bit more clearly, but not even The Matrix could help us understand. Living your life day by day using your senses to depict things and suddenly being told that your senses cannot be trusted seems puzzling to any human being. The puzzling question is, if my senses cannot be trusted how can I exist? Descartes’s answer would be as long as you can doubt your existence you exist. No matter if a person or computer program manipulates your mind you know you exist because of your ability to doubt, think and have an illusion. In conclusion, it’s not that you should believe there is an evil deceiver, but if there is a deceiver there is no way to know.
Work Cited
Descartes, Rene. Meditation 1. Of things of which we may doubt. (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Web. 09 May 2012.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/.
The Matrix
. Prod. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Dir. Andy Wachowksi and
Larry Wachowski. By Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. 1999. [DVD]
Oreck, Josh, dir. Philosopher of the Matrix. Josh Oreck, 2004. YouTube. Web. 09 May. 2012.
Wachowski, Andy and Larry. The Matrix. Numbered Shooting Script. March 1998.
The Daily Script
June 2012 <
http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/the_matrix.pdf
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