What does it mean for something to be real? The answer to this question may seem obvious at first glance, and perhaps hardly worth the question itself, but a quick moment's reflection confronts us with one of the most profound philosophical abysses, the answer to which we ordinarily assume forms the basis of the rest of our beliefs. Nietzsche once said that "when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you." This abyss may be the exception, especially if it's not there...As Morpheus quickly demonstrates in the following scene from The Matrix (which is the modern version of Plato's Myth of the Cave) the very act of perception, which we normally take for granted as representing reality, distorts the real into what can be perceived by us. How different is our perception of what is from what is? Welcome to the world of philosophy...
Check out more lessons on philosophy from The Matrix.
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