For Homework read Chapter 1.
You have two choices.. if you choose option 2, please post a discription of your project and if possible a link illustrating it.
OPTION 1:
Write a reflection comparing the film the Matrix to what you learned in the lecture about Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
Below is a link to the Allegory of the Cave from Plato's book THE REPUBLIC:
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html
Be sure to include examples of some things you found in common. In the film the Matrix.. what realm do you think is most like the cave, most like being in the sun.. What are the shadows? Think about some of the terms discussed in the lecture.
OR,
OPTION 2:
Create a work of art, video, website or interactive project that illustrates Plato's myth of the cave. This can be low tech like a drawing or collage or this can be done with a camera and computer programs. Feel free to encorporate current events or issues in the work.
We will discuss at the beginning of class next week.
18 comments:
Hi this is Michael Kessler from the Contemporary Moral Issue class. Here is my review of today's homework assignment.
Since today I learned about Plato’s Cave, it kind of confuse me a bit. What was Plato’s theory really about? What message lies within this philosophy? I took the liberty to hold my questions and decided to watch the Matrix. During through the movie, the whole plot of the movie reminded me of Plato's Cave.
From watching the beginning where you met the main hero, Neo, to the point where Neo wakes up in pink goo; I remember about the cave. Think of Neo as the six people that were sitting in a straight line can’t move and their legs, arms and neck are tied or chained. Neo was one of them that took the courage to find out what’s going on. Just like the group, Neo lives in his ideal of his cave, a world he thinks is reality. When Neo had to choose either the blue pill or the red pill and when he took the red pill, the world that he knows or lived in (the wall and cave) was nothing but shadows and figures. The sunlight he turned to was a world humans rely on to survive that is called the Matrix.
I guess with the moral of Plato’s Theory and the Matrix movie, you can’t combine surreal and the real life. Surreal is something that you think exist in front of your eyes, like are trees really green and brown? Is the sky really blue? Do we really inhale air around us for oxygen?
Kristy Killian
Comtemporary Moral Issues
Week 1
January 16, 2009
What realm is most like the cave?____ The realm that is most like the cave is the one that we first see Noe living in. Him working and being yelled at in his office, in his apartment or at the club. In Plato's cave the cave also consisted some of the truth with the puppets behind the prisoners. The truth that can be seen in the Matrix would be the computer interaction that Neo has. As for the prisoner in the cave, Neo is connected to the truth in some way but has no idea of what is really going on.
What are the shadows?_____Mr. Smith can represent the shadows on the cave wall, by reinforcing the mistaken truth. When Neo and him are in the police office he reinforces the false truth ( about the world Neo thinks is real) this is like when the shadows appear on the cave wall. Mr. Smith makes Neo think that he can be in some serious trouble with the law that Neo thinks is real. This fear puts Neo back in his place to think of the false consequences that he could face, which in a way makes Neo see the shadows as the truth.////Although Neo is living in a fake world that he believes is real, his emotions of curiousity is growing stronger as it did with the one prisoner person in the cave. When the shadows are not there the people, Neo, are left to think and wonder and they have some intuative feeling that there is something other than what they believe but as the shadows appear the only truth they know is consumed in their mind. Example is this; When Neo is in the police cell with Mr. Smith and Mr. Smith makes Neo's mouth blend together and puts the bug locator in his bellybutton that is like when the Prisoner breaks free and frist looks into the light. The prisoner doesn't know what to think and is confused, it is to hard to understand and has to turn back to the cave wall so the confusion will clear and the pain of the light will go away. This is the same as when Neo wakes up after the TRUTH was revealed and thinks that was all just a dream, reinforcing the false reality that he lives in. Him waking up from the "dream" can represent as the shadows on the cave wall.
What is most like being in the light/sun?____Well there a couple of different situation where Neo can be consider to be in the light. Now that doesn't mean that he understands everything for the prisoner in the cave was in the light and it hurt his eye for a while and resistances was an emotion the the prisoner express although over time the light was more bearable and understood and soon the light was now the truth to the prisoner. So light had stages you can say. The being stages of the light for Neo was when he was in the police station with Mr. Smith. This is where the TRUTH was first revealed. You might think oh what about when Trinity was talking to him or some other situation, but that was just a representation of the curiosity the he was faced with. When the distortion of his mouth happen that was the truth that he could see. Then it was when he touched the mirror and started to freaking out about it soaking in his skin. All of these situation are the being stages of acceptance of the light for Neo. //////The red pill- is the curiosity of breaking out of the chains and facing the light. ///////How deep the rabbit hole goes-is "REAL" life, knowing or not holding back from knoledge, not having judgment for judgment keep you from learning all that is out there. The further you go through the rabbit hole the more knowledge you learn and less questions you have.//////Why is Neo the one and not any of the other you live in the light (the one prisoner the only who accepts the truth and when he goes back to tell the other they do not believe)._____Well even though Trinity and Morpheus know the truth they still are not the one. This can be because the "Shadows" have made such an impact on them that even though they know the shadows are a lie they still hang on to them in a way. Deep with in them they have doubt that they can not release. Neo on the other hand learn to let go of that doubt (Shadows) and submerge himself in the light or the truth. When Neo stops the bullets this represents in going further though the rabbit hole. He is not questioning things or thinking about the old truth. That is what makes him the chosen ONE.
So the cave reminds me of joining the military in a sense. I can see how the cave can represent the movie the Matrix and how both can relate to each other. When one is chained in a cave and only allowed to face one direction for most of your life, well that would be all that you know. In the Matrix, Neo has a chance to be released from what he thinks is reality only to find what reality really is. I believe that the military is very similar in a sense.
When you grow up from child hood to your late teen age years, you really don’t know what life is really about. Most kids join the military in there late teens. When you go through boot camp, the military can conform your mind to their ways so that is all you know. As one will go through there time in the military, you will live that life style without really knowing what it is like to be a civilian. As the philosophy of Plato's cave reveals the same life of a person chained down in a cave with some shadows and that’s all you know. The same is with the military, until you tend to grow up and out as well as realize what it may be like to be a civilian. During your time in the military, you tend to make friends or the friends that you had when they were in the military. A person will learn how free it is to be a civilian and may want to choose that life instead of a military life. In the theory of Plato's cave, one of the people that are chained down becomes free and returns to tell the others what life is really like, the same pertains to those that are young in the military.
When i was in the military and realized what life would be like as a civilian as well as an adult in the civilian world, I could not wait. As soon as I was a civilian I felt like my chains had been lifted and I was free.
Martin Sellers
Contemporary Moral Issues
January 21, 2009
I would have to say that the major comparison about the Cave and the Matrix is that an illusion have been pulled over peoples faces and are forced to look at a fake world, and when exposed to reality it would be so blinding it would hurt and cause pain to the people or person that it is exposed to. Some things that are defiantly common with the cave and the matrix is that in the cave, the prisoners were held and exposed to the fake world as a tool for the state. In the matrix humans were being held and used for their energy, to the benefit of the robots. The shadows I think are a version of the actual matrix itself, a bunch of fake images that are perceived to be reality.
Ian McAlee:
The similarities in these two stories are abundant. I believe that the allegory of the cave can be associated with multiple parts of 'the matrix.' Obviously Neo represents the prisoner who escapes the cave. The matrix itself represents the cave, as Morpheus said, "it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." The truth of the matrix representing the light outside the cave. Neo even asks why his eyes hurt, and Morpheus replies that he has never used them before. The shadows on the walls of the cave are represented by the content of the matrix, the year that the matrix is set in, the interactions with people places and things in the world of 1999. While the Agents, like Smith, would represent the people carrying the shapes that cast the shadows upon the walls of the cave to keep the prisoners in control. While the prisoners of the cave who don't believe the prisoner who escaped are represented by the other people connected to the system of the matrix. Again, Morpheus explains the connection by saying that these people are so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it. Even the character Sypher can be a representation of the nonbelievers in the cave, because of his desire to be reinserted to the matrix.
Both stories encourage people to the truth and never believe just for the sake of believing because you could be ignorant to the truth.
The Matrix and Plato's Allegory of the cave are share parallels in their philosophy. This is due to the fact that many of the same ideas are expressed in both, just in different ways.
The cave in the movie, is obviously the entirety of the Matrix, the virtual prison designed to entrap the minds of its occupants. The shadows in the cave is everything presented in the matrix. From buildings and trees, even to the people who "inhabit" it. This is further proven when Morpheus tells Neo, after he is taken to the real world, that the version of himself in the virtual world is just a residual self image or what the mind believes itself to look like.
The Sun isn't so much a place or a realm in the matrix, but symbolized through a person, Morpheus. Morpheus is the one that enlightens Neo and exposes the truth to him under the radiance of knowledge much like the sun did for the prisoner that escaped the cave.
The metaphor extends deeper if one includes the function of the Agents in The Matrix, who act like the puppeteers in the cave, trying to uphold and preserve the illusion of the world around the prisoners.
Seeing as I’ve been caught in a raw mood, and I don’t really feel like talking about the philosophy of the Matrix, I’m going to skip that part and dig right into the core of my thoughts rather than beating around the bush, so here we go.
To me, this Cave allegory can be applied to just about everyone, especially people who have ‘found’ religion. We’ll use the basis of Christian and Catholic religions for arguments sake. Think about it; if we compare the two, the book is the fire and the shadows displayed on the wall, the priests are the puppeteers and the idea of one God are the neck braces as so they cannot turn their head and the chains that bind them so they cannot move. They speak of freedom and free will, yet this book of theirs tells them what they can and cannot do to stay ‘pure’, but they are bound by its rules and cannot leave its cave for fear of going to Hell when they can’t see the Hell they’re in. The same can be said about Atheist’s and Agnostics, and really any religion, its not just those two. To really open up to the world is to give up worldly thoughts, and I’m sorry but religion is a worldly creations, no matter how much they try to justify it. But that’s just my opinion. Moving on.
We are all products of the media, whether we like it or not. I mean, would you be in an art school if you weren’t? And it’s not just confined to television, but that is the major mainstay of today’s media. Imagine you’ve been watching TV for several hours at night, you’ve stayed glued to the sofa, your eyes look as drones, your legs haven’t moved and you can’t stop staring at the pretty images on the glowing box. Your peripheral vision is working perfectly, but you don’t see what’s around you in your tunnel vision, only the pretty flashing box. You then begin to listen to what the images are saying and you start to believe what ever they say (you’re now in the early stages of being programmed). There comes a sudden sharp noise and your reverie is broken to the point where you become curious because what ever sound you heard, wasn’t from this flashing box of awesome goodness, it was from somewhere else. You try to turn your head, but your neck cramps, you try to move your eyes but find a blurring from the tunnel vision and have to rub your eyes. When you’re finally able to move, you head to the kitchen and flip on the light switch. The light blinds you and it takes you several moments to adjust to the incoming beams of hatred. As your eyes adjust, you start to see real colors, real objects, things you can see, taste, smell and touch and you realize what a fool you’ve been and run outside only to re-enter the darkness because you’ve been sitting in front of that box for several hours and it is now dark outside.
Well, that’s an extreme example, but it’s true. And as with the cave, it fits.
To me, it’s not just a statement of being trapped, or blind folded, its saying that the entire human race, even Plato, Socrates and all those philosophers as well, are trapped and blind folded to the world, nay, the universe around us! We humans are greedy by nature, territorial, and can only see what is directly in front of us. Deny it all you want, but the sooner you realize that the better for everyone. (have I mentioned I’m in a raw mood?)
So lets do me now; I’m so far into the cave I’ve probably found a couple of diamonds. But I’m not really a slave to television, as I don’t watch it. Love cartoons though, I’ll watch those all day if I could. I maybe in the cave, and I’m no exception to what I’ve said before, but I can at least realize that I’m blind folded to the rest of the world. I like what I do and what I am, so there’s no real point in changing that. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my point. Would you really want change from your life? Would you give it all up and just live for the sake of living? Forget all your worries and step outside the cave into the blinding world that is the truth? Well, all the modern comforts of the world will hold you fast and prevent you from leaving. To borrow a quote: “The things you own end up owning you.” ~Tyler Durden. That is so true in more ways than one.
Screw the Matrix,
Use soap.
~Dan Bernard~
Michael Witzer
Contemporary Moral Issues
Week 1
Before this week I had actually never heard of Plato's Cave. I have seen The Matrix though, and with that said I learned a lot about the similarity of the two concepts. The concept of The Matrix is that there is a world being pulled over the eyes of the citizens that hiders them of seeing the real world. In the cave the shadows they see are just like the fake world in The Matrix. When you see something for so long you stop questioning whether or not what you see is real, and you just accept it. Which is what Neo and the people in the cave did. The chained people believed that the shadow of a duck was what they really looked like, but when the real world is exposed, you realize that the world is so much more.
At first when i saw the picture of plato's cave, i was wondering what the heck is this. but i soon realized from the lecture and parts of the matrix, that this cave was a metaphor. i soon believed that the cave reflects the lives of people that don't think outside of the box, or when people are afraid or don't comprehend the real truth. the people in the cave that were changed up infered that they seen the true images on the wall, when in all actuality they seen distorted images and were not exposed to the real occurance of what was going on. i also felt that the part of the matrix we watched went hand in hand with plato's cave. the reason i felt this way was because of how neo adapted to the perception of what he sees. for instance when neo becomes part of the matrix all of the real images become distorted. to me some of these things that are reflected seem like a form of brainwashing, the reason i feel this way is because of how the images or concepts get altered into a false or distorted sense of reality.
Hello, Kevin Mercier here;
Plato's cave is a strong metaphor given to people who live in a false sense of reality. It is almost as if someone is controlling a character in another tier of reality.
Now this is almost symmetrical to the premise of the Matrix, they just replace the simple chains and bindings with pretty pieces of technology and special effects.
The false sense of reality is just a program that Neo, a long with everyone else that is not part of the "matrix" crew is participating in. The reality that we know as our reality is just a program that we're living in.
Morpheus is the one that decides to show Neo how everything he's previously believed in was fictional, breaking his chains, and how he was just participating in a altered simulation. Once he awakes from the program it is as if he was blasted with the sunlight, being shocked and having trouble grasping onto the concept that he has been living a lie.
Lauren Bell
Contemporary Moral Issues
While listening to the story about Plato's Cave in class last week I was a little confused. After looking at a lot of websites and talking to some friends who believed they knew the story of Plato's cave I think I have a better understanding of it. The shortened version of the story from my point of view would be that there were six people chained together in a cave looking at a fire,all they saw were their shadows and because they couldn't see anything else they thought that the real world was just like that. People being chained together in a cave. Until one of them was able to leave the cave and saw what the real world was actually like. Plato's story reminds me so much of the Matrix. Neo is like the six people chained up in a cave. Since he sees nothing else he believes thats reality. Until Morpheus helps him get out of the cave that he believes is real life, then Morpheus shows him the real life.
Tony aiello
contemporary moral issues
im going to have to agree with what everyone else has said.there's not much more i can say its pretty self explanatory.
this is shaun cavan looking at the matrix compared to platos theory about the cave. I see that when you have people going in and out of the cave its like when their little bubble if you are born in their catacomb with all of their wires and plug ins. People arent people just like in the cave and in the matrix people know the real truth whatever that is and if they have that compared to the cave its the same indifference.
Plato's Cave and the Matrix seemed similar to me in the scene where Neo is connected to tubes and strapped down unable to move. It appeared that information was being downloaded to him. In Plato's cave the people chained were also unable to move and were given information only by shadows casted from puppets. In the Matrix, I guess the forms of puppets was the information being fed to him through digital form. I might be wrong but it seemed like Noe's memory was replaced with a different memory. Whereas, the people in the cave only know of the shadows that were being cast by the fire behind the puppets. Denise Hutchins
the dark glasses were a block to the soul(eyes are the gate way).
Second neo was the one who broke the chain in the matrix, and mr. smith were the puppet masters, and the people(cops) were the puppets.
In evolution every so often someone, or thing comes along and break the chain or cycle of life.
so
After watching the clip from the Matrix I saw a very strong connection to the Allegory of the cave.
I think the part that is most like the cave is where Neo is in the beginning of the clip. He has his job, and he goes through the motions; the same routine every day. This life is all he has ever known, much like the people chained in the cave. the only thing they ever knew were the shaddows on the wall. both of these were lies.
when the man breaks free from the chains and goes outside in the sun he realizes that what he was seeing before wasn't real life and he goes and tries to save the others. To me this is where in the movie Morpheus is the one to break away, and then he tries to convince Neo.
The cave reminds me of the military. I grew up in a military family so i watched many of my fellow peers grow up following a specific path. It was always wake up at a certain time, brush your teeth, make your bed, eat breakfast, take a shower, go to school, sports, go home, homework, dinner, brush your teeth, go to bed, do it all over again until the weekend. This was our days on the military base. No deviation was tolerated unless under supervision of an adult figure. As we got older though we started to try new things and deviate from our set schedules. For this we were punished with curfews or chores to make us realize we needed to stay on point. This is like the matrix because the matrix controlled your outlook on life until you broke away. At this point you were considered an enemy of the state and where killed. In the real world, that may happen but you don't find those extremes to often. Platos cave makes you really think about the other possibilities out their if you just take a moment to look.
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