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Cailan Patel
Philosophy 120
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is like The Matrix from a philosophical point of view.
They are both similar in the fact that Neo and Plato were shown a whole new side of re-
ality, they also had to figure out what side would be better, and I personally think that it
is more than worth freeing oneself from such prisons like the cave and The Matrix.
Plato states, “And suppose once more that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep
and rugged ascent and held fast until he is forced into the presence of the sun itself.”
(1). Much like the reluctant dragging towards the sun, when Neo chose the red pill, he
was now locked into a whole new reality. Plato went from the cave being the original re-
ality and moving to the outside world as a new reality and Neo went from the normal
world to The Matrix. For Neo, the reality of The Matrix was a big change. He was sub-
ject to virtual realities and knowledge readily downloadable to his brain. Plato’s version
is a more basic and primitive example of The Matrix. The individual that was let out of
the cave was introduced to a new world outside. The sun blinded him and he observed
things in real light and pondered on things that he hadn’t before in the cave.
Plato questions what the individual who was let out the cave would think of this
new reality verses the old cave reality, “Pity them?, … do you think that he would care
