The Matrix and Philosophy

This is a collection of essays written by philosophy professors about common themes between The Matrix and classic philosophy texts, starting with the most obvious, Plato's cave. The authors each have varying takes on the subject, and some are more "hardcore" into philosophy than others. One compares The Matrix with Cronenberg's eXistenZ preferring the later, mostly because the non-standard heroine played by Jennifer Jason Leigh is a more interesting than the cookie-cutter caricatures of The Matrix. At times the book dragged on through countless esoteric philosophy references, and would often be repetitive, as the writer was really hammering home his/her point, but at least the editors arranged the essays so that there was some humor and levity between many of the scholarly sections.

Even though there seem to be clear references to philosophy texts in The Matrix, the time when the essays got interesting is when the writer seemed to venture out on thier own to make assertions. The best of these questioned the standard enabler of entertainment: the concept of the willing suspension of disbelief. After hearing the arguments against the old theory, I'd have to say I'm questioning it now as well. I don't know if that is a theme of philosophy, but besides Plato's cave and Descarte's evil deciever, I think this is the only part of the book I will remember in 10 years.

I listened to the Audible.com version, but I linked to the paperback as there is no audio book for this on Amazon.

The Matrix and Philosophy © 2002 William Irwin, Editor. Open Court Publishing Company. 081269502X.