Reality and the Matrix

Reality is defined by the dictionary as "the totality of all things posessing actuality, existence or
essence". This definition is short and simple but the concept of reality is perplexing. We are able to
prove aspects of being but proving that our concept of reality to be correct has never yet been quite
possible. Many philosophers have questioned our narrow-minded, self assurance of the world, the
reality in which we live. Plato contemplated 3,000 years ago the idea that we are merely sitting in a
world of fantasy with our backs against reality, not bothering to turn around to see what else new
discoveries may greet us. More recently, the blockbuster films "The Truman Show" and "The
Matrix" have centred their plots around the theory that our world (the world of one man in "The
Truman Show") is not the real world and that we are only seeing an acted representation of the
world ("The Truman Show") or a world inside a computer program, in the case of "The Matrix".
The question whether or not we could be deceived easily enough to mistake our world for the "real
world" if it were not is as controversial as any. As is highlighted in "The Matrix" children are more
easily deceived than adults, primarily because they are less accustomed to their circumstances.
Aristotle also believed children were more easily deceived and cheated although unlike today he
wasn't able to record precise experiments to prove this. Even as adults the brain and the senses can
be quite easily tricked in a variety of ways (e.g. optical illusions or card tricks).
Plato (427-347 BCE) was a student of Socrates at the beginning of his philosophical career but
was also influenced by other famous philosophers and mathematicians throughout his life such as
Pythagoras.

"...that the reality which scientific thought is seeking must be expressible in mathematical terms,
mathematics being the most precise and definite kind of thinking of which we are capable. The
significance of this idea for the development of science from the first beginnings to the present
day has been immense." - Plato.

He established a school of philosophy in his home city of Athens and tried to pass on a Socratic
way of thinking to guide, through mathematical learning and to discover new philosophical truths.
Mathematics was indeed key to many of Plato's theories. Circularity, squareness, and triangularity
are examples of what Plato meant by "forms". Plato believed "forms" have greater reality than
objects in the physical world both because of their perfection and stability and because they are
models, resemblance to which gives ordinary physical objects whatever reality they have. This
theory is similar to Picasso's approach to art in Cubism and Edgar Degas' belief that all natural
forms were related to the cube the cone and the cylinder. Plato approved of certain religious and
moralistic art works but his main criticism of artist's work was their apparent lack of genuine
knowledge of what they were doing, he thought the physical, beautiful flower was one step away
from reality and in art was another step away from reality.
In book seven of 'The Republic' Plato tells of "The Allegory Of The Cave." He begins the story by
describing a dark underground cave where a group of people are sitting in one long row with their
backs to the cave's entrance. Chained to their chairs from an early age, all the humans can see is
the distant cave wall in from of them. Their view of reality is solely based upon this limited view of
the cave which is only a very much inferior version, a poor copy of the real world.

Bibliography

Film: 'The Matrix'

'The Truman Show'
Texts: 'The Philosophy Files' by Stephen Law
Websites: http://www.dictionary.com
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Plato.html
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/theater/9175
http://www.ku.edu/kansas/medieval/108/lectures/philosophy.html
http://www.molloy.edu/academic/philosophy/sophia/aristotle
http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/plat.htm