|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
The Cave And The Matrix Towers
In Book VII of The Republic, Plato tells a story entitled "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 caves 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 soley based upon this limited view of the cave which but is a poor copy of the real world.
In addition to the chained people, there are other people in the cave. Plato refers to them as the puppet-handlers and they are the ones holding those in the cave captive. ... Due to a fire that is burning the mouth of the cave, the prisoners are able to see the objects and each other only as distorted, flickering shadows on the cavern wall in front of them. ... "
The movie, "The Matrix," parallels Platoss Allegory Of The Cave in a number of ways. Similar to the prisoners of the cave, the humans trapped in the matrix (the cave) only see what the machines (the modern day puppet-handlers) want them to see. They are tricked into believing that what they hear in the cave and see before them is the true reality that exists. ... The prisoners of the cave and the matrix are shown only shadows of the real objects, in part, because the puppet-handlers believe that the truth would be too painful for the prisoners to accept. ...
The Freed Man
In "Allegory of The Cave," Plato goes on to present the hypothesis that one of the prisoners (who he often referred to as the philosopher or intellectual) would eventually be released or escape from his chains and flee the cave.
After turning around in his chair, this philosopher/intellectual would then be able to see the real objects that are casted as only shadows on the cave wall as well as the puppet-handlers who are holding these objects. ...
As pointed out in "The Allegory Of The Cave," the Freed Man might even feel that what he was seeing now was the illusion and the shadows on the wall were actually more real. ...
Interestingly enough, Plato even ponders with the ideas that the bonds holding the prisoners to their chairs may actually be mental rather than physical in nature; in another words, if the prisoners really wanted to escape from the cave, they could do so by simply willing themselves to get up and walk out. ... )
With these thoughts in mind, it is important to realize, at least according to Plato, that the Freed Man must have started to question what he saw in front of him and wondered about the origin of the shadows and if there was anything else beyond the cave wall that he saw before him.
Approximate Word count = 2226
Approximate Pages = 8.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|