The Matrix and Philosophy

[Pages:298]The Matrix and Philosophy

Welcome to the Desert of the Real

Edited by

WILLIAM IRWIN

For Peter H. Hare, Morpheus to many

Contents

Introduction: Meditations on The Matrix

1

Scene 1

How Do You Know?

3

1. Computers, Caves, and Oracles: Neo and Socrates

WILLIAM IRWIN

5

2. Skepticism, Morality, and The Matrix

GERALD J. ERION and BARRY SMITH

16

3. The Matrix Possibility

DAVID MITSUO NIXON

28

4. Seeing, Believing, Touching, Truth

CAROLYN KORSMEYER

41

Scene 2

The Desert of the Real

53

5. The Metaphysics of The Matrix

JORGE J.E. GRACIA and JONATHAN J. SANFORD

55

6. The Machine-Made Ghost: Or, The Philosophy of

Mind, Matrix Style

JASON HOLT

66

7. Neo-Materialism and the Death of the Subject

DANIEL BARWICK

75

8. Fate, Freedom, and Foreknowledge

THEODORE SCHICK, JR.

87

iii

iv

Contents

Scene 3

Down the Rabbit Hole of Ethics

and Religion

99

9. There Is No Spoon: A Buddhist Mirror

MICHAEL BRANNIGAN

101

10. The Religion of The Matrix and the Problems

of Pluralism

GREGORY BASSHAM

111

11. Happiness and Cypher's Choice: Is Ignorance Bliss?

CHARLES L. GRISWOLD, JR.

126

12. We Are (the) One! Kant Explains How to Manipulate

the Matrix

JAMES LAWLER

138

Scene 4

Virtual Themes

153

13. Notes from Underground: Nihilism and The Matrix

THOMAS S. HIBBS

155

14. Popping a Bitter Pill: Existential Authenticity in

The Matrix and Nausea

JENNIFER L. MCMAHON

166

15. The Paradox of Real Response to Neo-Fiction

SARAH E. WORTH

178

16. Real Genre and Virtual Philosophy

188

DEBORAH KNIGHT and GEORGE MCKNIGHT

Scene 5

De-Construct-Ing The Matrix

203

17. Penetrating Keanu: New Holes, but the Same Old Shit

CYNTHIA FREELAND

205

18. The Matrix, Marx, and the Coppertop's Life

MARTIN A. DANAHAY AND DAVID RIEDER

216

Contents

v

19. The Matrix Simulation and the Postmodern Age

DAVID WEBERMAN

225

20. The Matrix: Or, The Two Sides of Perversion

< <

SLAVOJ ZIZEK

240

The Potentials

267

The Oracle's Index

273

Acknowledgments

281

About the Editor

Popular Culture and Philosophy

About The Matrix and Philosophy

Praise for The Matrix and Philosophy

Credits Cover Copyright

About Open Court Publishing Company About PerfectBound

vi

Introduction: Meditations on The Matrix

Which pill would you choose, the red or the blue? Is ignorance bliss, or is the truth worth knowing, no matter what? After watching The Matrix we are impressed by the action and special effects, and also besieged by questions. Is it possible that we ourselves are prisoners of the Matrix? Is this a Christian film? A Buddhist film? There is no spoon?

A student of mine at King's College, Adam Albert, first drew my attention to The Matrix. He immediately saw the connections between the film and Descartes's speculations on the possibility of deception by dreams or an evil deceiver. My experience and his were similar to those of philosophy professors and students around the world. The magazine Philosophy Now even held an essay contest for college students. The topic: Which pill would you choose? Why?

With this book, professors follow the trail blazed by their students. Each author asks and answers questions about the philosophical significance of the film. As culture critic Slavoj Zizek suggests, The Matrix is a philosopher's Rorschach inkblot test. Philosophers see their favored philosophy in it: existentialism, Marxism, feminism, Buddhism, nihilism, postmodernism. Name your philosophical ism and you can find it in The Matrix. Still, the film is not just some randomly generated inkblot but has a definite plan behind it and intentionally incorporates much that is philosophical. The Wachowski brothers, college dropout comic-book artists intrigued by the Big Questions, readily acknowledge that they have woven many philosophical themes and allusions into the fabric of the film. The Matrix and Philosophy does not in every instance attempt or purport to convey the intended meaning of the writers and artists responsible for The Matrix. Rather, the book highlights the philosophical significance of the film.

To paraphrase Trinity, it's the questions that drive us. The contributing authors draw on Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes,

1

< <

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download