Essay Comparing Plato And The Wachowski Brothers

Both Plato and the Wachowski Brothers call into question the tension between appearance and reality and attest that education and questioning all that one knows are the only ways to achieve true knowledge. Reality can be reached only through an education coming from either persuasion or coercion. Education comes with inherent political tension which will exist until one objective version of reality is agreed upon by everyone. Since this will never happen, the concept of reality and appearance will always behold the tension of which is real and which is only an appearance because there is no authoritative voice. In both the book and the film, conflict inevitably arises when an authoritative voice appears. The only way to resolve the tension between appearance and reality is to allow those with knowledge the power to rule and decide and allow those without to continue living ignorantly in the appearance of reality, which is all they know. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates wants for a world ruled by Philosopher kings in order to have “political power and philosophy...blended together” (473D). He believes that it is them alone who are capable of …show more content…
Morpheus warns of brain elasticity and the inherent human desire to stick with what is known. Cyprus embodies this dilemma when he puts the lives of the rebels at risk in order to gain re entry to the Matrix. He exclaims that he wants to go back and that life is much better inside. This is an ominous forewarning for Neo, whom at the end of the film declares that he is going to free everyone. The chance of rebellion is massive because the masses are not necessarily fit to handle the truth that awaits them outside of their machine bubbles. This is either due to a lack of education or a lack of desire to be educated. It is hard for Neo to realize since the thought does not seem to occur to him, but for many, ignorance is