Materialism vs. Idealism in The Matrix

Materialism is a philosophical viewpoint that "...matter is the ultimate constituent of reality..." (Valasquez 183). Idealism is defined as being "...the belief that reality is essentially idea and mind rather than matter... (Valasquez 191). Both of these theories are pivotal in the film The Matrix in which two realities exist for every individual human being.

The plot of The Matrix revolves around the lives of individuals who believe that they are living productive, active lives when they are in fact nothing more than human energy sources who are grown in fields rather than born. They live physically hooked up to tubes and are submerged in a slimy substance. The lives that they believe they are living are nothing more than simulations. When machines created with artificial intelligence began to take over the earth humans began a war and scorched the sky, eliminating the machines solar power source. Rather than accepting defeat the AIs found a way to use human beings themselves as batteries. They hooked humans up to life sustaining machines and plugged computer programs into their brains that were the source of all that they believed was real. Electrical signals were able to trigger the brain to believe that they computer program was the true environment. The programs made it so humans believed they were living in the year 1999. The mind control allowed them to live lives with families, schools, jobs, needs, and need fulfillment. They would experience all sensations including eating and drinking. Essentially they had lives just as we do today. The difference is these lives were all within their minds and in "reality" they lived without ever waking or moving a single muscle.

The actual world within the film is one that is dark, ugly, dirty, and cold. Food consists of a slimy substance that provides all of the nourishment a human body needs. Once a person is unhooked from the machines that keep them alive they have to undergo lengthy treatments to repair muscles that have atrophied due to lack of use. The main characters within the story are humans who have escaped the control of the machines and are trying to free all others and destroy the AIs. A few humans within the programmed world, which is known as the matrix, were able to sense that something was amiss and were able to defy the matrix by mentally realizing that nothing was real., thereby making it possible to perform superhuman feats like bending spoons with the mind, walking up walls and on ceilings, and jumping off tall buildings without injury. The rules that applied to the real world; gravity, time, solidarity of objects, were different within the matrix and if one knew how he or she could bend or break the rules. Those who could change the world around them in unusual ways were the selected few who were unplugged by those struggling for total freedom and the annihilation of the AIs. Once in the actual physical world they could be trained to do anything through computer programs hooked up to the ports in the backs of their heads, including learning to fly a helicopter within a few minutes.

The world within the matrix was idealistic. It was a world in which the mind controlled the senses. Humans never tasted, touched, heard, smelled, or saw anything other than within the mind. One believed that the world was real and even though his or her body could not be physically injured in a computer program the mind believed that it could. Thus if a person was injured within the matrix the body died.

The world outside of the matrix was idealistic. All that was real existed in that world because materials could actually be verified by senses and did not exist solely within the mind. If one was injured outside of the matrix they would die whether they believed they could or not. Rules like gravity were static and could not be bent or broken. The film clearly states that this world is the true reality and the one that is lived within the computer program is simply an illusion.

As a viewer it is obvious that the materialist world should be considered to be reality but it tends to take on more unrealistic features than the idealistic world. Reality is harsh, painful, and exists on a planet that has been destroyed and in which humans must gravitate towards the earth's core in order to obtain a semblance of warmth, comfort, and society. Reality involves having to go back and forth between the earth and the simulated world and fight the machines within a computer program. One of the characters within the movie betrayed the others to the AIs because he wanted to go back to the simulated world even though he knew that it was a false reality. He was happier within the computer program than he was in the real world because the real world offered few comforts. This character ended up dieing before her returned to the simulated life. One has to wonder if it would have been possible for him to ever really return to this lifestyle. He would go through the rest of his life knowing that there was nothing around him that was real. His friends and family did not really exist and all he cared for would have been an illusion. What meaning would life have if one knew that nothing around him or her even existed? What worth or purpose would sheer existence have?

For many it would be difficult to choose between the idealistic life within the matrix and the materialistic life outside of it. What truly makes reality? If no one knew that they were being controlled by computers the life they were living in the matrix would have been easily accepted as reality. Perhaps there were indeed two realities within this film. The life created with assistance by the mind could not be denied. This life was lived and within it there were meaningful experiences and relationships. Granted, in a materialistic viewpoint it was false because the environment did not exist. Yet within the mind it did exist. Perhaps reality lies somewhere between materialism and idealism. What the mind believes can be a true reality and so can that which is tangible. Perhaps it all just depends on the situation.

Works Cited

The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishbourne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. Warner Brothers, 1999.

Velasquez, Manual. Philosophy. Thomson Learning, California: 2005.