The document discusses Plato and his Allegory of the Cave, comparing it to themes in the 1999 film The Matrix. It provides biographical details on Plato, an overview of his Theory of Forms and Allegory of the Cave. It then analyzes similarities between the allegory and The Matrix, such as how both question the nature of reality and involve breaking free from an artificial or limited perspective. The document concludes that both works challenge views on reality and what is real.

2. Group-6
• Members
• Pankaj Verma 120122025
• Shivraj 120107056
• Aniket Dhawad 120121011
• Ashish Suthar 120107001
• Abhinav Anand 120104001
• Nayanmoni Baishya 120108021
• Arvind 120123009
• Vivek Dandge 120103080
• Suraj Patil 120106050
• Nirmit Sakre 120121033

3. (429-347 BCE)
• The “idealist” or “utopian” or “dreamer”
• Born into a wealthy family in the second year of the
Peloponnesian War
• Name means “high forehead”
• Student of Socrates
• Left Athens when Socrates died but returned to open a
school called the Academy in 385 BCE
• Wrote 20 books, many in the dialectic style (a story
which attempts to teach a specific concept) with
Socrates as the main character

4. PLATO- At a glance
Full name: Plato (Πλάτων)
Born: 428–427 BC; Athens
Died: 348–347 BC (age approx. 80); Athens
Era: Ancient philosophy
Region: Western Philosophy
Notable ideas: Platonic realism
Influenced by:
Socrates, Homer, Hesiod, Aristophanes,
Aesop, Protagoras, Parmenides, Pythagoras,
Heraclitus, Orphism

5. •Idealist, believes in order and
harmony, morality and self-denial
•Immortality of the soul
•Virtue as knowledge
•Theory of Forms – the
highest function of the human
soul is to achieve the vision of
the form of the good

6. Plato
• Plato is one of the world's best known and most widely read
and studied philosophers. He was the student of Socrates
and the teacher of Aristotle, and he wrote in the middle of
the fourth century B.C. in ancient Greece. Though influenced
primarily by Socrates, to the extent that Socrates is usually
the main character in many of Plato's writings, he was also
influenced by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans.
• Plato was one of the greatest Philosopher who
conceptualized democracy and wrote it in his book Republic.

7. Plato’s overall position
• Metaphysics
(Reality)
• Epistemology
(Knowledge)
• Ethics
(Good)
THE
THEORY
OF
FORMS

8. Plato’s Theory of Forms
• The Theory of Forms maintains that two distinct levels of
reality exist: the visible world of sights and sounds that we
inhabit and the intelligible world of Forms that stands above
the visible world and gives it being.
• For example, Plato maintains that in addition to being able to
identify a beautiful person or a beautiful painting, we also
have a general conception of Beauty itself, and we are able
to identify the beauty in a person or a painting only because
we have this conception of Beauty in the abstract.
8

9. Plato’s Theory of Forms
• In other words, the beautiful things we can see are beautiful
only because they participate in the more general Form of
Beauty. This Form of Beauty is itself invisible, eternal, and
unchanging, unlike the things in the visible world that can
grow old and lose their beauty.
• The Theory of Forms envisions an entire world of such
Forms, a world that exists outside of time and space, where
Beauty, Justice, Courage, Temperance, and the like exist
untarnished by the changes and imperfections of the visible
world.
9

10. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

11. • Prisoners chained since
childhood.
• Their limbs chained so
they cannot move
• Their heads chained so
they cannot look any
direction but forward

12. • They face a wall
• On the wall are
shadows
• The prisoners’ attention
is occupied by shadows
cast on the wall

13. • The shadows are cast
from a roadway behind
the prisoners.
• On the roadway,
shapes of various
animals, plants, and
things are carried.

14. • An enormous fire behind the
roadway creates the light to
cast the shadows

15. • When the shape carriers
speak, their voice echoes
on the wall.
• The prisoners believe that
the sounds are coming
from the shadows

16. This is the only reality that they know,
even though they are seeing only
shadows of images .

17. • One prisoner is released.
• The prisoner is compelled to
stand up and turn around.

18. • The brightness of the
fire-light blinds the
prisoner and the shapes
moving by do not appear
as real as the shadows

19. • Similarly if he is dragged out of the
cave and into the sunlight, his eyes are
so blinded that he will not be able to
see anything.
• Over time his eyes will mature.

20. • The last object that he would
be able to see is the sun.
• Which, in time, he
would learn to see as
that object which
provides the seasons
and the courses of the
year… Presides over all
things in the visible
region, and is in some
way the cause of all
these things that he
has seen.....

21. Matrix Vs Allegory of Cave
• “The Matrix”, a 1999 film by the Wachowski brothers, adapts a
number of new and ancient philosophies about the truth behind
reality, but the most central to the overarching framework of the film
is adapted from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. While “The Matrix”
mirrors Plato’s allegory almost exactly in structure, its storyline is far
more complex and it is effectively adapted to be a modern sci-fi/
action movie.
• In the Matrix, the main character, Neo, is trapped in a false reality
created by a computer program. The program was created by
machines that took over the planet. While in Plato’s Allegory of the
Cave, a prisoner is able to comprehend the reality of the cave and the
real one outside the cave.

22. Matrix Vs Allegory of Cave
• The Matrix and Plato’s
Allegory of the Cave both
revolve around the same
metaphysical question,
“what is real?”
• Both works share more
similarities than differences.

23. Matrix Vs Allegory of Cave
• Just as the prisoners in the cave, Neo is chained to massive wall
where machines harvest his body’s heat to power
themselves. Neither the prisoners nor the people in the matrix
realize that they are prisoners; they are completely unaware the
reality they think they know is false.
• “The Matrix” adapts the dark cave, where prisoners are literally
chained, to become one of a virtual state, where people are not
physically bound, but mentally, furthering their belief that they are
free though they are not. This prevents them from doing anything
about their imprisonment.

24. Similarity
• The main similarity is the acceptance of truth about themselves
that Neo and the freed prisoner must face. They must accept this
truth before they can acquire deeper knowledge about
fundamental truths. To achieve this knowledge, both the freed
prisoner and Neo need to experience the shocking demonstration
that the senses are inadequate and that they can be systematically
deceived.

25. Similarity
• Another similarity that both of these stories share is the fact that
both worlds are controlled by a greater power. For example, Neo
lives in a world which is controlled by the matrix while Plato’s
prisoner lives in a world, or cave, controlled by the form holders.
While explaining the matrix, Morpheus says to Neo, “…you are a
slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born
into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for
your mind.”

26. Matrix Vs Allegory of Cave
• A central theme in both Plato’s Republic (as well as most of his and
his teacher Socrates’ philosophy) and “The Matrix” is the idea of
human’s limitations in knowledge.
• According to Andy Clark, Philosopher and Cognitive scientist, “The
Matrix” forces its audience to “ask questions about what the actual
limits and bounds of our own behavior are”. “The Matrix” manifests
these limitations not only in the characters’ acquisition of knowledge,
but also of their ability to break physical limitations that the captive
humans are still subjected to.

27. Matrix Vs Allegory of Cave
• Just as Neo is able to perform physically impossible feats once he
learns to manipulate the matrix, the philosopher is able to learn
infinite wisdom once he breaks free from the cave.
• John Partridge, professor of Philosophy states that the basis of
Socratic wisdom is recognizing one’s limits of understanding and then
working toward breaking those limits.

28. Matrix Vs Allegory of Cave
• Neo applies this to his physical limitations, which the alternate reality
has placed upon him. Knowing his limits and knowing that they are
not real, allows him to accomplish anything in the matrix, such as
stopping bullets in mid-air and flying (which he does in the very last
seen of the movie).

29. Other Philosophical Influences-Descartes
• Descartes poses the question of how he can know with certainty
that the world he experiences is not an illusion being forced upon
him by an evil demon. He reasons since he believes in what he
sees and feels while dreaming, he cannot trust his senses to tell
him that he is not still dreaming. He concludes that he cannot rely
on his senses, and that for all he knows, he and the rest of the
world might all be under the control of an evil demon.

30. SIMILARITY IN MOVIE
• Descartes’ evil demon is vividly realized in the Matrix films as the
artificial intelligence that forces a virtual reality on humans. Just as
Descartes realized that the sensations in his dreams were vivid
enough to convince him the dreams were real, the humans who are
plugged into the Matrix have no idea that their sensations are false,
created artificially instead of arising from actual experiences.
• Like Descartes, Neo eventually knows to take nothing at face value,
and to question the existence of even those things, such as chairs,
that seem most real.

31. Socratic View
• Ancient Greeks considered Delphi to be the center of the world and
revered the wisdom of the Oracle who resided there, in the Temple of
Apollo. This Oracle’s prophecies were always cryptic.
• When Socrates visited the Oracle, he claimed that he knew nothing,
and the Oracle replied that she was the wisest person on earth.
Socrates disagreed, but he eventually discovered her ironic meaning.
By claiming to know nothing, Socrates truly was the wisest because all
others were under the false impression that they knew more than
they actually knew.

32. Socratic View
• The phrase “Know Thyself” was inscribed on the walls of the Oracle’s
temple, suggesting that true wisdom lies in recognizing one’s own
ignorance.

33. Socratic View
• Neo, like Socrates,
is willing to admit
to his own
ignorance, and the
Oracle in the
Matrix films
maintains her
confidence in him
and his abilities
despite his often
visible confusion
and doubt.

35. Central Themes
• Concept of Reality:
• 1. Dual nature: False
reality; Ultimate reality
• 2. Relative nature
• Constant Pursuit of
Reality:
• 1. Men must search for the
ultimate reality and break
free from the shackles of
false reality
• 2. Enlightenment

36. Central Themes
•Rationalism
•-People should not only
be contented on what
they perceive to be true
•-Plato states that we
must search for truth by
gaining more knowledge
in order to unlock the
chains of falsity.

37. Enlightenment
In the film Inception, people can also be trapped in the dreamscapes.
Mal and Cobb were trapped in the dream world for fifty plus years.
Mal and Cobb were able to create their own world wherein they were
the only ones who exist. They even grew old inside the dreamscape.

38. Cobb eventually realizes that the world that Mal and
Cobb created wasn’t the true reality.
Cobb enlightens Mal that they have to get out of their
dream world and go back into the true reality. And at
first, Mal refuses to believe Cobb but eventually gave in
to the idea that they have to kill themselves inside the
dream in order to wake up into the real reality.

40. False realities
False reality is another theme seen in Plato’s allegory of the
cave and the film Inception. The projections of the shadows
on the cave walls in Plato’s allegory of the cave can be
compared to the dreams in the movies. They both create a
false reality for the prisoners and the dreamers alike.

41. Mal, in the film inception became too engrossed with
the false realities that she already refuses to believe
that the true reality is not in the dreamscape. She
became completely trapped in the dream world.
REAL WORLD
DREAM

42. Another example is the team in the movie Inception
created a false reality for their target Robert Fisher in
order to plant an idea. Robert Fisher was taken into the
dream world to be tricked and fooled into a false
reality.

43. TOTEM –BIASED VIEW OF WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT
IS FAKE REALITY.

44. Conclusion
• In my opinion, the Matrix movie most effectively challenged me to
reconsider my answer to the question “what is real?”
• I find the movie to not be as straight forward as the Allegory of the
Cave.
• Reality is not as obvious in the Matrix which forces me to question my
assumption about the concreteness of reality that surrounds me. I
think this movie really makes people question their own reality and
what it is to them.

45. Conclusion
• The Allegory of the Cave helped me reach a new understanding of
external reality because it made me realize that you never know what
reality is until you are faced with what is not reality. The prisoner lived
his life thinking that reality was what he knew in the cave, but when
he left the cave, the prisoner realized that true reality was what was
outside the cave.

46. Conclusion
• “The Matrix” modernizes the original allegory and adds a more
humanistic appeal. It also focuses more on human emotion and
feelings. These two works have many similarities and revolve around
the same metaphysical question.

47. Conclusion
• Plato thus espouses an approach that involves directing students’
minds toward discovering for themselves what is true, real and
important. Additionally, Plato argues that only the well educated,
the virtuous, the philosophers can be the rulers of Republic
utopian city of “Kallipolis”. The Human race will have no respite
from evils until those who are really and truly philosophers acquire
political power or until, through some divine dispensation, those
who rule and have political authorities in cities become
philosophers.

48. Conclusion
The prisoners portray the ignorant people/students who passively accept
knowledge through a traditional lecturer-centered environment, where
spoon feeding takes place. Students passively believe what they are taught
by their teachers and accept the presented knowledge/truth as the real
one, the real world.

49. Conclusion
Learner-centered learning moves away from traditional teaching
environments and utilizes learning methods, through which students
assume an active role and teachers become facilitators of the student
learning process, rather than information providers. Such methods
include amongst others, problem-based learning, simulation exercises,
group projects, research work, etc.

50. References
• Wikipedia
• Google
• http://www.sparknotes.com
• http://vectors.umwblogs.or
• http://www.wordpress.com