Comparing The Matrix and George Berkeley'stheory of Immaterialism

Comparing The Matrix and George Berkeley’s theory of Immaterialism

            George Berkeley had a theory of immaterialism in which he theorizes that objects do not exist and that they are actually perceived by the individuals. In The Matrix, the question “What is real?” can relate to George Berkeley’s Theory of Immaterialism. The Theory of Immaterialism relates to the film The Matrix through the idea of finding out what is real and what is not. Idealism of perception in the mind of what is real and what is not.  

George Berkeley 

            A very big connection I found was between the theory of Immaterialism by George Berkeley and The Matrix. A part of the movie in which this topic is very relevant is when Neo and Morpheus go and visit the Oracle, Neo walks in to the family room of the Oracle’s apartment and he sees a skinny boy bending a spoon. When Neo, sees this boy a great amount of interest grew in him. The Spoon Boy told Neo “Do not try to bend the spoon that is impossible instead, only try to realize the truth,…that there is no spoon, then you will see that it is not the spoon that bends it is only yourself” (Wachowski 72). 

I found this part of the movie to have direct connection to George Berkeley’s theory of Immaterialism because Berkeley believed that there are no objects in reality and that they are all perceived. As well as everything we do with the objects, they are all perceptions of our mind. Most objects that we believe we see such as tables and chairs are perceptions of our minds and only exist in our minds. If a person doesn’t perceive an object, then the object doesn’t exist. Berkeley believed that our minds constantly perceive, without us trying to perceive, it comes naturally to our minds, but without perception there wouldn’t be any objects.

Berkeley’s theory also comes in connection to the Matrix when Neo is given his first meal in the Matrix and realizes that it looks like a soup and it’s called “dinner for champions”. All the food they are given is exactly the same, but it’s their minds that perceive what they are going to be eating. “If you're talking about what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain”(Wachowski 39). Morpheus told Neo when he was introducing Neo, to his new world. Another example was when Cypher had a meeting with an agent and said “You know, I know that this steak doesn't exist. I know when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is

telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, do you know what I've realized? Ignorance is bliss” (Wachowski 61). This is very similar to what Berkeley believed because it’s saying that how you feel, smell, taste, or see is just the mind. How their food tastes like is what their minds make them believe. If as an individual they decided to eat a steak, they would imagine a steak and think of all the qualities that a steak is known to have. An example that George Berkeley used when describing his theory was that when you think of a cherry you “perceive the sensible qualities such as the colors, flavors, and textures”(Atherton 87). All perceptions are very reasonable and natural.

            A different part of the movie that was very big in perception was in Neo’s first day of training. Morpheus and Neo were fighting each other, and obviously Neo didn’t believe in himself and Morpheus gave him a beating. After this Morpheus told Neo ‘Come on, Neo. What are you waiting for? You’re faster than this. Don’t you think you are. Know you are.” After a moment Morpheus jumped to the next rooftop and Neo thought he could do it but didn’t believe, he failed like it was expected by the rest of the members. Morpheus told Neo “your mind makes it real” and that he has to believe in himself in order to accomplish what they believe he could accomplish. At this point Neo didn’t believe and wasn’t able to complete the jump. “Everyone falls the first jump, right Trinity?” said Cypher (Wachowski 51). Cypher said this because nobody believes in the beginning and it’s not until they realize they have to believe in order to accomplish.

There is a part in the movie where Morpheus tells Neo “Do you believe that's air you are breathing now? (Wachowski 48)” Morpheus tells Neo this with the only idea to make Neo believe that everything is what our minds are being told by our brains. Again, it goes back to the theory of Immaterialism by George Berkeley, connecting in the way that all objects are perceptions of the mind.

            The way that Morpheus tells Neo that he has to have fate and believe is all forms of perceptions that the mind makes. The reality and truth all come from the mind according to Morpheus and George Berkeley. They all become perceptions of the mind.

            Neo starts perceiving that he is stronger and that he could do what he believes when he goes back to save Morpheus with the help of Trinity. When Neo’s mind started perceiving that he was stronger, faster and the chosen one he became the person that everybody else believed he was. All that was needed for him to be this guy, was his own fate and believing in himself. Neo’s perceptions of being stronger and made him the strong guy that they all believed was the chosen one.

Immaterialism is the idea of perception and as an individual deciding what is real or not. Like in The Matrix all the members perceive their abilities and strengths that makes them who they are. The perceptions that their minds create is what they become and what they live up to. Especially Neo who couldn’t believe what he could get to be until he realized he needed to believe in order to save The Matrix. Immaterialism by George Berkeley and The Matrix have direct connection with each other because the main idea of both is that as an individual we create who we are and how we become. Perceptions that the mind creates of an individual becomes their reality.

Reflection on Research

 Starting this semester I was terrible doing research and just writing in general. I did learn that when writing a paper you should always plan out the ideas that you have planned for the essay.  I will be using outlines more often and gathering research without procrastination. Doing research from the library has been very useful, and even though I really didn’t understand it in the beginning after using it quite a bit I fell more comfortable using it. I also, feel that after this class I will be more careful and try to stay on topic and not write about irrelevant topics in one essay.  This class has also pushed me in to incorporating quotes in my essays to support my ideas. The one thing I still feel I’m having a complicated time with is my works cited in MLA form. The citing confuses me and I would want more practice in it, but I feel that I do understand it better than when I came in to this class. Research in this class has also made realize that there is a lot of information out there for us to explore and learn from. Researching has also made me realize that all the information that is out to find, is not all accurate. There also some sources that are based on research done by other reader’s and their understandings. The writing process and good research are vital for a good accurate research paper. The MLA style is different from other forms of citing but it’s the most common.                                

Matrix rough draft

The Matrix is a movie that has many philosophical themes that are included and it was a very complex movie in which we had to pay a lot of attention. In the movie there were many parts that at first we don’t see to have any relation to philosophy, but in a later film that we watched on the Philosophy of the Matrix, it showed the relations between both. The biggest question that arouses throughout the movie was figuring out “What is real?” which I find relatively similar to the theory of immaterialism, by George Berkeley.

            Mr. Anderson is Keanu Reeves before he joins the Matrix and becomes Neo. Neo was chosen by Morpheus, he saw that Neo was the “chosen one”. When the people of the Matrix wanted to get in touch with Neo they do it through the computer and tell him to follow the white rabbit. A while after he saw a girl that had a tattoo of a white rabbit, when this occurred I made a connection to The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. This movie had a lot of other connections, for example, it made connection with Through the Looking Glass.

                A very big connection I found was between the theory of Immaterialism by George Berkeley and the movie. A part of the movie in which this topic is very relevant is when Neo and Morpheus go and visit the Oracle, Neo walks in to the family room of the Oracle’s apartment and he sees a skinny boy bending the spoon. When Neo, sees this boy a great amount of interest grew in him. The Spoon Boy, told Neo that the truth was that there is no spoon, and then he will see that it is not the spoon that bends it is only himself.

            I found this part of the movie to have direct connection to George Berkeley’s theory of Immaterialism. Berkeley believed that there are no objects in reality and that they are all perceived. Most objects that we believe we see such as tables and chairs are perceptions of our minds and only exist in our minds. If a person doesn’t perceive an object then there is no object.

            Berkeley’s theory also comes in connection to the Matrix when Neo is given his first meal in the Matrix and realizes that it looks like a soup and it’s called dinner for champions. All the food they are given is exactly the same but it’s their minds that perceive what they are eating.  How their food taste like is what their minds make them believe. An example that George Berkeley used when describing his theory was that when you think of a cherry you perceive the sensible qualities such as the colors, flavors, and textures. All perceptions are very reasonable and natural.

            A different part of the movie that was very big in perception was in Neo’s first day of training. Morpheus and Neo were fighting each other, and obviously Neo didn’t believe in himself and Morpheus gave him a beating. After this Morpheus told Neo if he believed that he was stronger than that and Neo didn’t believe deep in his mind. After a moment Morpheus jumped to the next rooftop and Neo thought he could do it but didn’t believe, he failed like it was expected by the rest of the members. Morpheus told Neo that it is his mind that makes it real and that he has to believe in himself in order to accomplish what they believe he could accomplish.

            The way that Morpheus tells Neo that he has to have fate and believe is all forms of perceptions that the mind makes. The reality and truth all come from the mind according to Morpheus and George Berkeley. They all become perception of our mind.

            Neo starts perceiving that he is stronger and that he could do what he believes when he goes back and saves Morpheus with the help of Trinity. When Neo’s mind started perceiving that he was stronger, faster and the chosen one he became the person that everybody else believed he was. All that was needed for him to be this guy, was his own fate and believing in himself.

George Berkeley's immaterialism theory

George Berkeley his first theory was first called Immaterialism and later became known as subjective idealism. The theory denies the exisistence of any materialistic objects such as tables and chairs, this theory says that tables and chairs are notions of the mind of the perceivers. in other words they have to be perceived in order for them to exsist.
Berkeley's contribution to philosophy is his thorogh thought of perceiving all the things surrounding us and that they are nothing but ideas. This theory also relates to humans, that when we move our bodies it is only certain sensations we perceive. Berkeley began the use of  "notion" to replace "ideas" because he believed that "idea" was with regards to objects of refelection and notion is for the spirits.
Regarding God he believed that there are some other will or spirit that produces them referring to a sense of sight. He also mentions that there is nothing seperating man from God except maerial misconceptions.
In reagrds to the movie The Matrix I believe George Berkeley's theory had direct connectionsn to the movie when Neo goes and talks to the oracle and speaks with a little girl that is bending  a spoon and the girls says it isn't the spoon bending is you that is bending with it.

Beautiful Mind review

The movie Beautiful Mind was an extraordinary film from beginning to end. The main topic of the whole movie was at first confusing but interesting in some way. In this film actor, Russell crow, is a mathematician that is hallucinating many events that occur to him. He creates three characters in his mind that seem to be real. The way that he creates these characters in his mind seem so real that they don't create any doubtful thoughts. John Nash, the main character of the movie seemed to always be lonely. Even though there was a point in the movie that his insanity was so high that placed him in a mental institution. His wife Alicia Nash, and their son's life was in danger because of what his imaginary "friends" as he called told him that they were in danger.

His insanity didn’t overrule his genius intelligence. As, difficult as it was for him to learn to live with those characters he had created I his mind he managed to be able to be around society and behave as if he was normal. He became a professor at Princeton University and was able to reach one of the most prestigious positions a professor can receive. John Nash is a formal Nobel Prize winner because of the theories he has developed. 

John Nash’s insanity, genius, and madness were incredible in this film in which it showed how insanity can drive you to madness and make you do things that you would of never done if all your five senses were in your right sense of mind.

Dodgson in Wonderland By Joanna Richardson

In "Dodgson in Wonderland" by Joanna Richardson it is described how Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, more commonly known as Lewis Carroll, came up with the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a summer day as he was rowing a boat with three girls, Lorina, Alice, and Edith.  Many of the events of the book were what he related to his childhood, events of his life and Alice Liddell. Many points of the story such as the rabbit hole and the white rabbit were things he had seen. The whole that Alice falls in to is the one that Dodgson identified with from his grammar school. Also when the caucus-race happened according to Richardson, Lory was Lorina Liddell eaglet was Edith Liddell the duck was Robinson Duckworh and dodo was Dodgson. The Cheshire cat could have been Dodgson as well because he was a Cheshire man. Every character of the story happened to be someone in either Dodgson’s life or Alice. There was alos some proven fact that Alice Liddell was seven and half year old at the time. The idea of Through the Looking Glass came from one day asking Alice in which hand she held an orange and she had it in the right then he told her to look in the mirror and tell him in what hand did the “little girl” had the orange in and she answered that in the left hand. The Red Queen in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Alice’s life was Miss Pricket, the governess of Alice and her sisters. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were fairly similar and both held memories from hisb childhood and people he once came across in his life.