Rationalism and Empiricism in The Matrix: A struggle between empirical machine men, and rational autonomous humans. Olivia Thompson Radford University
During the film, The Matrix, a person's real body is stored and maintained in pods. Their bodies are used as a battery for a technology induced hallucination, which is the world they live in. This machine-created world is known as the matrix. Even though it is a false-reality, it is most being's actual reality. Those who have awaken, such as Neo, and Morpheus have regained access to the real world, and have been able to uncover the truth about the matrix, thus being able to leave it. The Sentient Programs can travel freely within the matrix as well, and are implanted as super-human beings within the matrix, that can greatly influence the world. In the matrix, Morpheus exemplifies a world-view based on rationalism, and directly conflict with the Sentient Agents who function under empiricism. In today's context, our philosophy, or what humans are mainly lead by is a mixture of both rationalism and empiricism, but within the context of the film, Morpheus characterizes true rationalism, and the sentient programs show true empiricism. Much like Sir Francis Galton, who also falls under the philosophy of empiricism, the Sentient Agents have chosen to experiment upon humans, to create an ideal self. On the rational end of the spectrum, Plato relates to Morpheus, in his understanding of the falsity of reality, once thought transforms from thought into creation. While Morpheus, and the Sentient Agents have established their knowledge or perspective, Neo is still on the brink of an expanding world-view, and shows the importance of finding faith or trust in yourself. When you live in a structured reality based on rules, then faith in your theory is non-essential, you do not have to think critically for yourself to create something new, because it has already been created for you. Rationalism is defined as, “The doctrine or theory that emphasizes the role of reason in knowledge, or claims that reason rather than sense experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge”, through deductive reasoning (Oxford Press). Morpheus uses a rationalistic. A priori, or “knowledge derived from reason alone” (Riding-Malon 2013), or justification for his belief that, "as long as the matrix exists, human kind will not be free" (Morpheus-Matrix 1999). His perspective first
becomes recognized when in discussion with Neo, he describes the feeling of knowing his whole life that something is wrong in the world, because of thought alone. Neo does not believe in fate, and lacks faith or confidence in himself, which opposes the strong-will of Morpheus. Neo's disbelief in fate is important because although he knew something was wrong his entire life, he still didn't realize the matrix around him, as a pre-planned destiny for human-kind itself. Neo must learn to trust his reason alone, which is the knowledge that Morpheus tries to enlighten upon Neo. The goal of Morpheus is to regain a world without the matrix but people are so socialized that he believes, "most of these people are not ready to be unplugged"...and that, "the matrix is a prison for your mind and no one can be told what the matrix is"(Morpheus-Matrix 1999). Much like the first time you are truly enlightened and your eyes have been opened to the structure of the world created around us, and how socialized we have become, it is not something that someone else can show you, you must see this world for yourself. Plato exemplified this understanding in his belief that you cannot share knowledge with those who do not experience it. Morpheus describes in his own way, that to be able to think rationally, you must break through the rules of empiricism. In contrast, the Sentient Agents live in a world of procedure, and rules that guide their actions and thoughts. The Sentient Agents, much like the rest of the plugged-in (or blindly socialized) world, only know how to function with a posteriori or, “knowledge gained by reference to the facts of experience” (Riding-Malon 2013). Empiricism is frequently contrasted with rationalism, because of its ideology, “which regards experience as the only source of knowledge”, (Oxford Press), and bases arguments on proof of facts and experiments designed with a context already in place, clearly using inductive reasoning. Because the Sentient agents are not human, they greatly contrast with Morpheus and Neo because of their lack of capability of having faith. The entire matrix, the world that humans must live in, is based upon the mechanical and empiricist perspective rules which eliminate the need for people to think for themselves. The sentient
agents describe their empiricist experiment on humans when explaining that "when I say your civilization I really mean our civilization because when we started thinking for you it really became our civilization which is of course what this is really all about. "(Sentient Agent-Matrix 1999). Humans in the matrix are treated under the same perspective as the eugenics movement advanced by Sir. Francis Galton. The purpose of the design of the matrix is to control knowledge, and not allow for rational thinking to take place, to create the perfect human. Eventually, Neo finds himself back in the matrix, at an Oracle's house. This scene is important because it shows that humans, unlike machines, do have the capability for spiritual connection, and somehow have powers in themselves. These powers are obviously the faith and knowledge that they have attained despite being trapped within the matrix. Neo observes a child bending a spoon, and is told to "bend the spoon by bending yourself" (child to Neo-Matrix 1999), which is to think outside of set of rules that has been created for us to follow in life, to see the truth. This portrayal of rationalism within the empiricist matrix, shows that empirical knowledge can often times hinder rational reasoning. The oracle helps the audience to see that blind belief is wrong, and to trust in your personal reasoning. Despite the rationalistic perspective in the film leaning more towards positive, and with empiricism showing the negative justification of our actions, the Oracle shows that even someone like Morpheus will die believing his own beliefs blindly. There is a balance that has to be achieved, but Neo must learn to trust himself, to save the world, or he won't. Despite Morpheus embodying rationalism and contrasting so sharply with the Sentient Agents who illustrate empiricism in the Matrix, at the conclusion of the film, the audience discovers that the "why" for both Morpheus and the Sentient Agents, are one in the same. Both want to see the end of the matrix, because neither are in control, when the rules are in control of themselves. Both sides find fault in their reality, much like Plato and Galton, who also oppose extremely. But the machine, much like our reality, perpetuates itself and cannot stop on its own. Eventually, Neo gains the faith in himself, despite
the lack of empirical proof, and becomes "the one", transforming more fully into his rationalistic perspective. Neo now not only is enlightened to the truth, he now wishes to achieve, "a world without rules, without boundaries and controls, a world where anything is possible", without the matrix. (Morpheus-Matrix 1999).
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