This essay will examine the philosophical issues raised in the film The Matrix. It will explain how the issues in the film directly relate to both skepticism and the mind-body problem, and will also show how these issues resemble concepts raised by the philosophies of Descartes and Plato. It will attempt to show that many of the issues raised in the film are metaphors for concepts from each philosopher's works, and why these concepts are important in relation to the way they are presented in the film. In this analysis, we will examine the issues of skepticism and the mind-body problem separately. The first part will examine how the film approaches the subject of skepticism and, in doing so, how it relates to Descartes and Plato. Part two will analyze the mind-body issues raised by the film and how these issues are true or not in relation to the ideas of Descartes and Plato.Part One: Skepticism and the MatrixThis philosophy student is now seeing the film The Matrix of a whole new way. after understanding some of the underlying philosophical concepts that the film's writers used to develop an intriguing and well-thought-out plot. Some philosophical concepts were clear, while others were only hinted at and most likely overlooked by those unfamiliar with these concepts, as this student was when the film first hit theaters ago many years. In this part of the essay we will look at the obvious and less obvious concepts of: what exactly is the Matrix and how it relates to Descartes and Plato, can we trust our own senses once we we understood what the Matrix is. , and how Neo taking the red pill is symbolic of the beginning of the journey out of Pl...... middle of paper ...... and, this student sees the writers chosen and choose what works they wanted to use of each philosopher and, ultimately, as the essence of the Matrix, distorted the ultimate truths sought by each philosopher. Works Cited Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy (In Focus). Ed. Stanley Tweyman. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. Web. April 29, 2011. Falzon, Christopher. Philosophy Goes to the Movies: An Introduction to Philosophy. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. Web. April 29, 2011. Plato. Apology, Crito and Phaedo of Socrates. Salt Lake City: Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, 2004. Web. May 20, 2011. Plato. The Republic. San Diego, CA: Icon International Group, 2005. Web. April 30, 2011. Sanders, Steven M., ed. The philosophy of science fiction cinema. Lexington; KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2008. Web. April 30 2011.