Haritha Vattolikal

A21906
03rd October 2023

Q. Explain and analyse in about 1500 words how Rene Descartes’ arguments that perceptual
reality could be an illusion is vividly realised in the movie The Matrix.

Plot summary of The Matrix and an introduction to Descartes’ Meditations

The Matrix (1999) by the Wachowski Sisters is a revolutionary film of the science fiction
genre that established its significant cultural impact at the dawn of the 21st century. The film
follows the protagonist, Neo, in his revelation about the world surrounding him. Neo, through
characters like Morpheus and Trinity, realises that the world he has resided in for seemingly his
entire life is in fact not the real world. The real world has turned into a treacherous desert as a
result of war between humankind and machines after the invention of artificial intelligence. The
humans’ real bodies are harvested and their brains are paralysed, suspended in liquid and
hooked to machines that project this fake reality to them. The world Neo lives in is a simulation
guarded strictly by machine-run programs called ‘agents of the matrix’ that will do anything to
maintain the monotonous sanctity of said Matrix. With a hatred towards humans, they seek to
destroy Morpheus and his team to get to Zion: the only warm place left which is at the centre of
the earth. It is upto Neo to believe in himself and fight for the freedom of the minds of the
people stuck in the Matrix. Neo is said to be “The One”, like a messiah who gives Morpheus and
his team a hope toward freedom from the machines. After many trials, Neo reaches a profound
level of enlightenment that allows him to fight the deadly computer programs with ease and
even comes back from the dead to fulfil his purpose as “the one”.
Descartes’ Meditations is one of the most influential philosophical texts during the
enlightenment of 17th century Europe. Doubt is central to the Cartesian way of thinking and in
the first of the Meditations, Descartes speaks of God and an evil that causes humans to err and
be deceived as God cannot be the one to allow deceit being omnibenevolent. Descartes speaks
of the rational existence of God as he attributes his thoughts and rationale to a power greater
than himself. The significance of dreams is notable as Descartes explains how it is difficult to
distinguish between dreams and reality, even when we are awake we do not know for certain if
these body parts belong to us and thus things of corporeal nature can be doubtful. Many things
and events can be experienced both in dreams and while awake except maybe a feeling of being
“dazed” that may be the only sign of sleep rather than wake. Our senses can deceive us and tell
us that a certain sign a few metres away says “stop” and not “go”, therefore all the sciences such
as physics, astronomy and medicine are open to the purview of doubt. In the beginning,
Descartes speaks of reviewing all his opinions and wiping the slate clean, a tabula rasa of his
own accord, that allows him to gain true knowledge afresh without any of his old biases or
understanding holding him back. But as he cannot doubt each and every sense perception lest
he accepts himself to be mad, Descartes ends the First Meditation by inferring that it is a
“malicious demon” that is causing his lapses in judgement which in turn brings forth doubt.

Parallels between the Matrix and Descartes’ Meditations

Neo’s journey from ignorance about his world’s reality to the true knowledge and
enlightenment achieved through the information that Morpheus and his team provides him
walks through the precepts of Descartes’ Meditations. Initially, his life is one of complacency
and ignorance. Although he is a hacker by night, he works a conventional 9-5 job at a software
company, pays his taxes and bills on time and has no signs of rebellion or doubt about the
hypercapitalist world he resides in. It is when his computer literally tells him “wake up Neo” that
doubt creeps into his mind. Just as Descartes ‘wakes up’ to realise that nothing he believes in is
safe from the encroachment of doubt. Descartes' doubt leads him to hold his sense perceptions
as suspect and similarly, Neo goes through the literal manifestations of that when he is plugged
into the chair and watches the world he previously thought was real, melt away before his very
eyes. In the film, the Matrix which is the simulation and the desert laden real world are always
interacting with one another, and Descartes too realises that the world inside his mind and the
world around him are very different but always interacting.
 A notable moment in the film among many others, is when Morpheus transports Neo into a
simulation to explain reality and to train him. He talks about what “real” means when he says,
“What is Real? How do you define Real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can
smell, taste and see, then Real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.” Here,
Morpheus speaks of these neuroelectrical impulses as easy to manipulate, as seen done by the
agents and the machines that program the minds of the humans in their cells. Descartes too
doubts his sensible faculties as they deceive him often and wonders if he can blame God for
these deficiencies. He then continues to persist that it is not enough for him to notice these
errors but to remember them and never make such mistakes again; yet he still does and is
anxious to know why. Similarly, it takes Neo many turns to truly understand that his world is not
real and never has been, simply taking the red pill does not convince him of the true nature of
reality. But instead of calling for any God, Neo undergoes literal danger and strife to reach his
latent enlightened state.
Dreams and deja vu are also important in the Matrix as they are portals through which the
simulation and the real collide. Although Neo mostly ignores these signs throughout the film,
Descartes questions the merging of the realms of dreams and reality, finding it hard to
distinguish the two. He describes himself to be “a prisoner who is enjoying an imaginary
freedom while asleep; as he begins to suspect that he is asleep, he dreads to be woken up, and
goes along with the pleasant illusion as long as he can”. Conversely, the act of sleeping in the
Matrix, is an act of resisting the agents of the simulation or “the system” as the truth is only
revealed to Neo as he is plugged in to pull him into the real world away from the cosmopolitan
escape of the simulation. Both ways, sleeping, dreaming and waking up are crucial processes in
the journey for the search of truth for Descartes and Neo.
As Descartes speaks of the malignant demon who is responsible for his sensible
deceptions, in the Matrix too, the agents of the simulation, especially agent Smith can be
applied to Descartes’ demon archetype as he keeps trying to reinstate Neo back to the
simulation as “Mr. Anderson” which is his name in the system. Agent Smith, like the demon, is
perpetuating and maintaining the deception which is the Matrix, just like Descartes’ opinions
and biases, they are difficult to escape from and find true freedom and truth.
Concluding notes

In his Second Meditation, Descartes says, “So what remains true? Perhaps just the one
fact that nothing is certain.” The Matrix too, ends in an ambiguity; Neo escapes the agents and
destroys agent Smith but the simulation still runs perfectly around him. But what he has
achieved is true and complete freedom. Intellectually, ontologically and spiritually, Neo can
choose the path he wishes to follow to bring freedom from the Matrix. His mind and its
complete liberation also aids in his physical body’s enhancement and prowess. This is reflecting
Descartes’ famous words, “Cogito ergo sum” or “I think therefore I am”. The mind or the
rationale is considered most supreme when it comes to experiencing reality, presiding over
sense perception which is at the surface of “the Matrix” of reality. Therefore, Meditations and
the Matrix and their crux infer that the mind can truly set us free.

References
1. “Rene Descartes Meditations and the Matrix.” Philosophy,

definitionofphilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/01/rene-descartes-meditations-and-matrix.h

tml#:~:text=The%20Matrix%20is%20a%20movie,exact%20replica%20of%20Descartes%2

0Meditations.

2. Cottingham, John. “Meditations 1 & 2 by Rene Descartes”.

3. Wachowski Sisters. “The Matrix”.