Blog 8

-          Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix

-          Truth and reality

-          The Cave being the physical world

-          Free will or predetermine destiny in Oedipus the king and Minority Report

-          Genetic engineering and discrimination

Movies have always been a way of showing visually what writers have wrote in books. Many movies have similarities to books and often spring out of books. This semester we’ve seen many connections between ancient reading texts and popular movies. One that had a significant impact on me was Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix. They both exploit a shocking experience and great philosophical standpoints on life and society. Making an individual think deeply, wonder and question things philosophically.

Plato’s cave is a reality which every individual living it believes it to be true because the cave is the only thing they know.  They have no knowledge what lies beyond and above the cave. What is fascinating to me is that I too had beliefs which I could swear and would claim to be absolutely certain, to be 100% accurate. Philosophically I was enlighten and shown the way out of this cave through constant questioning and reasoning. At first I could quite understand Plato’s Allegory but I was adjusted to the light and saw that what I thought was true before were lies I couldn’t see, what I thought was beautiful is only memories.

This theory of Plato’s cave became compelling and satisfactory to me. It spread my knowledge and way of looking at things. Just like The Matrix, I felt exactly like Neo, as if I were in a movie and had just recently seen the real world for what it truly was. This shocking and extraordinary experience was a complete change in my life. I began to feel obliged that if I am a true Philosopher not only will I the escape the cave but is my duty to try my best to help others escape. I feel the responsibility and right to want to enlighten others and free them from this cave. Expand people’s knowledge and free their mind is both fascinating and rewarding to me. Becoming a Philosopher professor will be amazing.