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Essay on Comparative Analysis Of Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave And The Matrix
Plato (428?-347 BC), Greek philosopher was one of the most creative and influential thinkers in Western philosophy. His "Allegory of the Cave" is perhaps the best-known of his many metaphors, allegories, and myths. This allegory is told and interpreted at the start of Book VII of The Republic.
In "Allegory of the Cave" Plato describes a group of people who have been imprisoned in a dark cave. These prisoners are generally perceived as being 'chained to their chairs' since birth, facing the cave wall, unable to move or even turn round (Dew). The only thing visible is the wall of the cave upon which appear shadows cast by models or statues of animals and objects (known as the 'puppet-handlers') that are passed before a brightly burning fire. Thus, their view of reality is solely based upon this limited view of the cave which is a poor copy of the real world shown by puppet-makers.
But to them, this is the true reality as they have only experienced this form of life. They know of no other and will not accept it unless they were forced to meet it.
Therefore, Plato described humanity as imprisoned in a cave and mistaking shadows on the wall for reality; he regarded the philosopher as the person who penetrates the world outside the cave of ignorance and achieves a vision of the true reality, the realm of Ideas (Andrew N. Carpenter, Encarta).
"The Matrix" produced by Joel Silver can therefore be seen to enact Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in a number of ways. The Matrix is about a computer programmer, Neo, who is a part-time hacker and gets an opportunity to learn what the rumored Matrix truly is (Allegory of the cave, Wikipedia encyclopedia). Neo discovers that what he has been presented with his entire life....
