Blog 3 "Philosophy and Reality"

In "The Matrix and Philosophy," David Mitsuo Nixon starts to intrigue our minds, the readers, with questions that make us question certain aspects and ideas in comparison to The Matrix and real life. He talks about the possibility of us being in the matrix right now. I started to find this interesting because he states that if there is the possibility of humanity living in the matrix right now, then the knowledge that we have attained is fallible. It's basically saying that if a world is constructed to be made true to us, how are we sure that it is true if we are not living in that which is true. I know it seems pretty complex but when you think about it, not too much. The truth is that if this is true then what we think we have or think we know is basically nothing because we cannot back it up with facts, evidence or even logic because we would be living in a world that is not really our own or even "real."

Now, in Allegory the Cave we see how this statement matches that of the philosopher Socrates/Plato. In this story the slaves only know a world that was "constructed" for them just like the matrix. They perceive this life to be real and the only life that is lived. They perceive the shadows to be actual beings or creatures that live. When one of the slaves is freed, his mind has been opened up to a whole new world. He doesn't understand it because he hasn't lived it. The knowledge that he had attained was due to experience. This is something else that talks about in his book. He states that we as people dont question things to be true because we have "experienced" it to be true. When the slave is freed and sees this whole new world, he realizes that what he "experienced" was not the reality of life around him, instead everything that he thought was, is not anymore and can be questioned. What is normal may not be normal.

Carolyn Korsmeyer writes about the difference between perceptual experience and actual experience. Perceptual experience is basically what the matrix is all about. You have all your senses and they are "active" in the matrix so since it "feels" real it seems real to the world that is plugged in. Actual experience is what the people of Zion are experiencing. They experience life as it truly is. Korsmeyer asks if it is possible or correct to perceive reality through perceptual experience. This is saying that we can perceive reality based on what our minds or our senses perceive as real. It's a good question because who's to say that what we see, feel, smell, hear or taste is real? The truth is that we can never be sure and just know that there is a possibility of the matrix.