This document summarizes the plot of the 1999 film The Matrix and discusses some of its major philosophical themes. It describes the film's story about Neo discovering that humanity is living in a simulated reality called "the Matrix" while their bodies are kept alive in pods. It discusses how the character Cypher wants to forget the truth and go back to the simulated world, saying "ignorance is bliss." The summary concludes by describing Neo's challenge to free humanity from the control of the Matrix.

1. PHIL 201
Synopsis: The Matrix
“Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was
real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How
would you know the difference between the dream world and
the real world?” -Morpheus
Have you ever had a dream that was so life-like that when you
woke up you weren’t sure at first if the dream had ended? Mr.
Anderson had such a dream. Mr. Anderson is a computer
programmer. He works for a big software corporation, but he
lives alone. He doesn’t sleep well, so he has a problem making
it to work on time. In general, though, he is a decent guy: he is
well educated, he pays his rent on time, and he helps his
landlord take out the trash. But at night, he works on his
computer. He is a hacker, and he goes by the hacker alias
“Neo.”
Neo has been having a nagging concern, a niggling little sense
in the back of his head that something isn’t right about his life.
He hasn’t been able to figure out what exactly is wrong, but the
feeling lingers there, like a splinter in his mind. And then he
meets Morpheus….
Morpheus is a leader of a group of dissidents who are trying to
help others see the true nature of their world. The truth,
according to them, is that the world is an illusion, an elaborate
system of deception perpetrated to keep people contentedly
under control. Morpheus offers Neo a choice: he can forget that
they ever met, go back to living his old life, and run the risk
that he’s being conned, or he can “take the red pill,” follow
Morpheus, and find out what’s really going on. Neo takes the
pill.
What he discovers is mind-boggling. It turns out that almost the
entire human race is lying unconscious in giant machines that
are keeping their bodies alive. Their brains are all connected
(via cables) to a powerful computer on which a programed

2. simulation of the world is running, and they are all
unconsciously living out virtual lives as individual players in
this computer simulation. They experience being born, growing
up, getting jobs, growing old, and dying through their virtual
lives in a computer simulation called “the Matrix.” As
Morpheus tells Neo, “The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around
us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look
out your window or when you turn on your television. You can
feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when
you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over
your eyes to blind you from the truth.” It all seems so real that
they have no idea that they are being duped.
All of this comes as a huge shock to Neo. It is almost too much
for him to accept. He experiences fear, denial, and confusion,
but eventually acceptance and then sadness. He realizes that all
of his “life” had been a lie. Morpheus reminds him, “I didn’t
say it would be easy, Neo. I only said it would be the truth.”
Neo joins Morpheus’ crew in helping other people to discover
the truth about the Matrix. However, many are not ready to
accept this truth. One such person is Cypher, a disillusioned
member of Morpheus’ rebel band. Cypher had expected that
knowing the truth would make life easier or somehow better,
but he discovers that knowledge can be a weighty burden.
Hence he seeks a way to erase his memories of the truth and go
back to his former state. He emphatically asserts, “Ignorance is
bliss,” and even strikes a deal with the master computer to
betray Morpheus in return for being returned to his former state.
But Neo disagrees with Cypher, and the movie ends with his
challenge to the Matrix: “I'm going to show these people what
you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world
without you. A world without rules and controls, without
borders or boundaries—A world where anything is possible."
Wachowski, Andy, and Lana Wachowski. The Matrix. Directed
by Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. Los Angeles:
Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999.

3. Page 1 of 2
PHIL 201
“The Allegory of the Cave”
Excerpt from Plato, The Republic, Book VII, 514A1-518D8,
Socrates and Glaucon are conversing:
SOCRATES: “Next,” said I “compare our nature in respect of
education and its lack to such an experience as this. Picture men
dwelling in a sort of subterranean cavern with a long entrance
open to the light on its entire width. Conceive them as having
their legs and necks fettered from childhood, so that they
remain in the same spot, able to look forward only, and
prevented by the fetters from turning their heads. Picture further
the light from a fire burning higher up and at a distance behind
them, and between the fire and the prisoners and above them a
road along which a low wall has been built, as the exhibitors of
puppet-shows have partitions before the men themselves, above
which they show the puppets.”
GLAUCON: “All that I see,” he said.
SOCRATES: “See also, then, men carrying past the wall
implements of all kinds that rise above the wall; and human
images and shapes of animals as well, wrought in stone and
wood and every material, some of these bearers presumably
speaking and others silent.”
GLAUCON: “A strange image you speak of,” he said, “and
strange prisoners.”
SOCRATES: “Like to us,” I said; “for, to begin with, tell me
do you think that these men would have seen anything of
themselves or of one another except the shadows cast from the
fire on the wall of the cave that fronted them?”
GLAUCON: “How could they,” he said, “if they were
compelled to hold their heads unmoved through life?”
SOCRATES: “And again, would not the same be true of the
objects carried past them?”

4. GLAUCON: “Surely.”
SOCRATES: “If then they were able to talk to one another, do
you not think that they would suppose that in naming the things
that they saw they were naming the passing objects?”
GLAUCON: “Necessarily.”
SOCRATES: “And if their prison had an echo from the wall
opposite them, when one of the passersby uttered a sound, do
you think that they would suppose anything else than the
passing shadow to be the speaker?”
GLAUCON: “By Zeus, I do not,” said he.
SOCRATES: “Then in every way such prisoners would deem
reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial
objects.”
GLAUCON: “Quite inevitably,” he said.
SOCRATES: “Consider, then, what would be the manner of
the release and healing from these bonds and this folly if in the
course of nature something of this sort should happen to them:
When one was freed from his fetters and compelled to stand up
suddenly and turn his head around and walk and to lift up his
eyes to the light, and in doing all this felt pain and, because of
the dazzle and glitter of the light, was unable to discern the
objects whose shadows he formerly saw, what do you suppose
would be his answer if someone told him that what he had seen
before was all a cheat and an illusion, but that now, being
nearer to reality and turned toward more real things, he saw
more truly? And if also one should point out to him each of the
passing objects and constrain him by questions to say what it is,
do you not think that he would be at a loss and that he would
regard what he formerly saw as more real than the things now
pointed out to him?”
GLAUCON: “Far more real,” he said.
SOCRATES: “And if he were compelled to look at the light
itself, would not that pain his eyes, and would he not turn away
and flee to those things which he is able to discern and regard
them as in very deed more clear and exact than the objects

5. pointed out?”
GLAUCON: “It is so,” he said.
SOCRATES: “And if,” said I, “someone should drag him
thence by force up the ascent which is rough and steep, and not
let him go before he had drawn him out into the light of the sun,
do you not think that he would find it painful to be so hauled
along, and would chafe at it, and when he came out into the
light, that his eyes would be filled with its beams so that he
would not be able to see even one of the things that we call
real?”
GLAUCON: “Why, no, not immediately,” he said.
SOCRATES: “Then there would be need of habituation, I take
it, to enable him to see the things higher up. And at first he
would most easily discern the shadows and, after that, the
likenesses or reflections in water of men and other things, and
later, the things themselves, and from these he would go on to
contemplate the appearances in the heavens and heaven itself,
more easily by night, looking at the light of the stars and the
moon, than by day the sun and the sun’s light.”
GLAUCON: “Of course.”
SOCRATES: “And so, finally, I suppose, he would be able to
look upon the sun itself and see its true nature, not by
reflections in water or phantasms of it in an alien setting, but in
and by itself in its own place.”
GLAUCON: “Necessarily,” he said.
SOCRATES: “And at this point he would infer and conclude
that this it is that provides the seasons and the courses of the
year and presides over all things in the visible region, and is in
some sort the cause of all these things that they had seen.”
GLAUCON: “Obviously,” he said, “that would be the next
step.”
SOCRATES: “Well then, if he recalled to mind his first
habitation and what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow-
bondsmen, do you not think that he would count himself happy
in the change and pity them?”
GLAUCON: “He would indeed.”

6. Page 1 of 2
PHIL 201
Meditation I of The Things of Which We May Doubt
Excerpt from René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy,
1641
1. SEVERAL years have now elapsed since I first became aware
that I had accepted, even from my youth, many false opinions
for true, and that consequently what I afterward based on such
principles was highly doubtful; and from that time I was
convinced of the necessity of undertaking once in my life to rid
myself of all the opinions I had adopted, and of commencing
anew the work of building from the foundation, if I desired to
establish a firm and abiding superstructure in the sciences. But
as this enterprise appeared to me to be one of great magnitude, I
waited until I had attained an age so mature as to leave me no
hope that at any stage of life more advanced I should be better
able to execute my design. On this account, I have delayed so
long that I should henceforth consider I was doing wrong were I
still to consume in deliberation any of the time that now
remains for action. Today, then, since I have opportunely freed
my mind from all cares [and am happily disturbed by no
passions], and since I am in the secure possession of leisure in a
peaceable retirement, I will at length apply myself earnestly and
freely to the general overthrow of all my former opinions.
2. But, to this end, it will not be necessary for me to show that
the whole of these are false--a point, perhaps, which I shall
never reach; but as even now my reason convinces me that I
ought not the less carefully to withhold belief from what is not
entirely certain and indubitable, than from what is manifestly
false, it will be sufficient to justify the rejection of the whole if
I shall find in each some ground for doubt. Nor for this purpose
will it be necessary even to deal with each belief individually,
which would be truly an endless labor; but, as the removal from
below of the foundation necessarily involves the downfall of the

7. whole edifice, I will at once approach the criticism of the
principles on which all my former beliefs rested.
3. All that I have, up to this moment, accepted as possessed of
the highest truth and certainty, I received either from or through
the senses. I observed, however, that these sometimes misled
us; and it is the part of prudence not to place absolute
confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.
4. But it may be said, perhaps, that, although the senses
occasionally mislead us respecting minute objects, and such as
are so far removed from us as to be beyond the reach of close
observation, there are yet many other of their informations
(presentations), of the truth of which it is manifestly impossible
to doubt; as for example, that I am in this place, seated by the
fire, clothed in a winter dressing gown, that I hold in my hands
this piece of paper, with other intimations of the same nature.
But how could I deny that I possess these hands and this body,
and withal escape being classed with persons in a state of
insanity, whose brains are so disordered and clouded by dark
bilious vapors as to cause them pertinaciously to assert that they
are monarchs when they are in the greatest poverty; or clothed
[in gold] and purple when destitute of any covering; or that
their head is made of clay, their body of glass, or that they are
gourds? I should certainly be not less insane than they, were I
to regulate my procedure according to examples so extravagant.
5. Though this be true, I must nevertheless here consider that I
am a man, and that, consequently, I am in the habit of sleeping,
and representing to myself in dreams those same things, or even
sometimes others less probable, which the insane think are
presented to them in their waking moments. How often have I
dreamt that I was in these familiar circumstances, that I was
dressed, and occupied this place by the fire, when I was lying
undressed in bed? At the present moment, however, I certainly
look upon this paper with eyes wide awake; the head which I
now move is not asleep; I extend this hand consciously and with
express purpose, and I perceive it; the occurrences in sleep are

8. not so distinct as all this. But I cannot forget that, at other times
I have been deceived in sleep by similar illusions; and,
attentively considering those cases, I perceive so clearly that
there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can
ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished;
and in amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now
dreaming.
6. Let us suppose, then, that we are dreaming, and that all these
particulars--namely, the opening of the eyes, the motion of the
head, the forth- putting of the hands--are merely illusions; and
even that we really possess neither an entire body nor hands
such as we see. Nevertheless it must be admitted at least that
the objects which appear to us in sleep are, as it were, painted
representations which could not have been formed unless in the
likeness of realities; and, therefore, that those general objects,
at all events, namely, eyes, a head, hands, and an entire body,
are not simply imaginary, but really existent. For, in truth,
painters themselves, even when they study to represent sirens
and satyrs by forms the most fantastic and extraordinary, cannot
bestow upon them natures absolutely new, but can only make a
certain medley of the members of different animals; or if they
chance to imagine something so novel that nothing at all similar
has ever been seen before, and such as is, therefore, purely
fictitious and absolutely false, it is at least certain that the
colors of which this is composed are real. And on the same
principle, although these general objects, viz. [a body], eyes, a
head, hands, and the like, be imaginary, we are nevertheless
absolutely necessitated to admit the reality at least of some
other objects still more simple and universal than these, of
which, just as of certain real colors, all those images of things,
whether true and real, or false and fantastic, that are found in
our consciousness (cogitatio) are formed.
7. To this class of objects seem to belong corporeal nature in
general and its extension; the figure of extended things, their
quantity or magnitude, and their number, as also the place in,
and the time during, which they exist, and other things of the

9. same sort.
8. We will not, therefore, perhaps reason illegitimately if we
conclude from this that Physics, Astronomy, Medicine, and all
the other sciences that have for their end the consideration of
composite objects, are indeed of a doubtful character; but that
Arithmetic, Geometry, and the other sciences of the same class,
which regard merely the simplest and most general objects, and
scarcely inquire whether or not these are really existent, contain
somewhat that is certain and indubitable: for whether I am
awake or dreaming, it remains true that two and three make
five, and that a square has but four sides; nor does it seem
possible that truths so apparent can ever fall under a suspicion
of falsity [or incertitude].
9. Nevertheless, the belief that there is a God who is all
powerful, and who created me, such as I am, has, for a long
time, obtained steady possession of my mind. How, then, do I
know that he has not arranged that there should be neither earth,
nor sky, nor any extended thing, nor figure, nor magnitude, nor
place, providing at the same time, however, for [the rise in me
of the perceptions of all these objects, and] the persuasion that
these do not exist otherwise than as I perceive them ? And
further, as I sometimes think that others are in error respecting
matters of which they believe themselves to possess a perfect
knowledge, how do I know that I am not also deceived each
time I add together two and three, or number the sides of a
square, or form some judgment still more simple, if more simple
indeed can be imagined? But perhaps Deity has not been willing
that I should be thus deceived, for he is said to be supremely
good. If, however, it were repugnant to the goodness of Deity to
have created me subject to constant deception, it would seem
likewise to be contrary to his goodness to allow me to be
occasionally deceived; and yet it is clear that this is permitted.
10. Some, indeed, might perhaps be found who would be
disposed rather to deny the existence of a Being so powerful
than to believe that there is nothing certain. But let us for the

10. present refrain from opposing this opinion, and grant that all
which is here said of a Deity is fabulous: nevertheless, in
whatever way it be supposed that I reach the state in which I
exist, whether by fate, or chance, or by an endless series of
antecedents and consequents, or by any other means, it is clear
(since to be deceived and to err is a certain defect ) that the
probability of my being so imperfect as to be the constant
victim of deception, will be increased exactly in proportion as
the power possessed by the cause, to which they assign my
origin, is lessened. To these reasonings I have assuredly nothing
to reply, but am constrained at last to avow that there is nothing
of all that I formerly believed to be true of which it is
impossible to doubt, and that not through thoughtlessness or
levity, but from cogent and maturely considered reasons; so that
henceforward, if I desire to discover anything certain, I ought
not the less carefully to refrain from assenting to those same
opinions than to what might be shown to be manifestly false.
11. But it is not sufficient to have made these observations; care
must be taken likewise to keep them in remembrance. For those
old and customary opinions perpetually recur-- long and
familiar usage giving them the right of occupying my mind,
even almost against my will, and subduing my belief; nor will I
lose the habit of deferring to them and confiding in them so
long as I shall consider them to be what in truth they are, viz.,
opinions to some extent doubtful, as I have already shown, but
still highly probable, and such as it is much more reasonable to
believe than deny. It is for this reason I am persuaded that I
shall not be doing wrong, if, taking an opposite judgment of
deliberate design, I become my own deceiver, by supposing, for
a time, that all those opinions are entirely false and imaginary,
until at length, having thus balanced my old by my new
prejudices, my judgment shall no longer be turned aside by
perverted usage from the path that may conduct to the
perception of truth. For I am assured that, meanwhile, there will
arise neither peril nor error from this course, and that I cannot
for the present yield too much to distrust, since the end I now

11. seek is not action but knowledge.
12. I will suppose, then, not that Deity, who is sovereignly good
and the fountain of truth, but that some malignant demon, who
is at once exceedingly potent and deceitful, has employed all his
artifice to deceive me; t will suppose that the sky, the air, the
earth, colors, figures, sounds, and all external things, are
nothing better than the illusions of dreams, by means of which
this being has laid snares for my credulity; I will consider
myself as without hands, eyes, flesh, blood, or any of the
senses, and as falsely believing that I am possessed of these; I
will continue resolutely fixed in this belief, and if indeed by
this means it be not in my power to arrive at the knowledge of
truth, I shall at least do what is in my power, viz., [ suspend my
judgment ], and guard with settled purpose against giving my
assent to what is false, and being imposed upon by this
deceiver, whatever be his power and artifice. But this
undertaking is arduous, and a certain indolence insensibly leads
me back to my ordinary course of life; and just as the captive,
who, perchance, was enjoying in his dreams an imaginary
liberty, when he begins to suspect that it is but a vision, dreads
awakening, and conspires with the agreeable illusions that the
deception may be prolonged; so I, of my own accord, fall back
into the train of my former beliefs, and fear to arouse myself
from my slumber, lest the time of laborious wakefulness that
would succeed this quiet rest, in place of bringing any light of
day, should prove inadequate to dispel the darkness that will
arise from the difficulties that have now been raised.
Page 1 of 4
PHIL 201
Essay Instructions
Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix
In this unit we have been discussing how we know. The modern

12. American philosopher Hilary Putnam popularized a well-known
thought experiment highlighting the problem of skepticism and
our knowledge of reality. To understand Putnam’s experiment
we need to consider how we normally obtain knowledge of
reality. Our knowledge of reality usually begins with sensory
input. While each of our five senses perceives the world
according to their individual means, I will use seeing as an
example. Light is reflected off of objects and enters through our
eyes which focus an image of these objects to the back of our
eyeball where it hits our optic nerve. Our nerve transforms this
image into electrical/neural impulses that travel through the
optic nerve up to where it is plugged into the brain. The brain
then processes these impulses where they are transformed into
an image in our mind. What our minds experience is an image
of the outside world similar to how a television projects an
image captured by a television camera.
In Putnam’s thought experiment, you imagine that your brain
has been severed from the nerves connecting it to your senses
(eyes, ears, nose, etc.) and has been removed from you skull and
placed in a vat filled with the nutritional fluid necessary to keep
your brain alive and functioning. Electrical wires have been
spliced into your sensory nerves that are connected to the
sensory inputs in your brains. The other ends of these wires are
connected to the outputs of a giant super computer. A man sits
at the keyboard of this super computer inputting data. This data
is transformed into electrical/neural impulses that travel through
the spliced wire/sensory nerves and into your brain. The brain
processes this information as if it were from your senses.
Hence, you have whatever image the man at the keyboard wants
you to have. Suppose he inputs data that you are sitting in a
café in France drinking an espresso. He includes all the usual
sensory data, including the smell and taste of the coffee, the
hardness of the chair and table, the cool breeze blowing by, the
sounds of the traffic, and the view of the Eiffel tower. You
experience all of this exactly as if you are really there. In such a
situation, you would have no idea that you (or at least your

13. brain) are actually sitting in some vat in some laboratory.
In 1999, Putnam’s thought experiment became the basis of a
megahit movie, The Matrix. However, Putnam was not the first
to suggest that there may be a problem with perceiving and
knowing reality. A number of philosophers have wrestled with
this problem. This brings us to your assignment.
In Module/Week 5’s Reading & Study folder there are 3 short
readings. Your assignment is to read them and then write an
essay with a minimum of 600 words (in MLA, APA, or Turabian
format) addressing some of the following questions. You must
address the first question, but then you are free to consider any
of the others.
While you are free to quote from sources, quotations will not
count towards the minimum word count. Late submissions will
not be accepted without the instructor’s approval. Plagiarism of
any kind will result in a 0 for the assignment and may result in
being dropped from the course.
A word about the readings: The first reading is a synopsis of
The Matrix. You may have seen the movie and so this would
function as a review for you. If you haven’t seen the movie, you
may choose to do so. However, you should know that the movie
is rated R for language and violence. It is not necessary to view
the movie to fulfill the assignment as the synopsis is enough to
consider the questions. The second reading comes from Plato’s
classic work, The Republic. It is in the form of a dialogue
between Socrates and Glaucon, a brother of Plato, and contains
the famous cave allegory. The final reading is a section from
Meditation I from Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene
Descartes who offers some reasons to doubt his senses.
Questions to consider:
1. Compare and contrast The Matrix with the readings from
Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and
differences?
2. Can we prove the world we are experiencing is real? How do
we know we are not dreaming, living in a Platonic cave, or
trapped in some sort of matrix?

14. 3. At the end of the cave allegory, Socrates implies that most
men would want to escape the cave and see reality as it really
is. However, in his betrayal of Morpheus, Cypher implies that it
is better to live in the artificial world of the Matrix. Which is
better: the harshness of reality or the “ignorance is bliss” of
illusion? Defend your answer.
4. Since much of our knowledge is based on sense experience,
and since our senses are imperfect and can be deceived, can we
ever be certain that our beliefs are true? Defend or explain your
answer.