In this unit, we have been discussing how we “know.”The modern American philosopher, Hilary Putnam, popularized a well-known thought
experiment highlighting the problem of skepticism and our knowledge of reality. To understand Putnam’s experiment, we need to consider how
we normally obtain knowledge of reality. Our knowledge of reality usually begins with sensory input. While each of our five senses
perceives the world according to their individual means, we will use seeing as an example.Light is reflected off of objects and enters
through our eyes, which focus an image of these objects to the back of our eyeball, where it hits our optic nerve. Our nerve transforms
this image into electrical/neural impulses that travel through the optic nerve up to where it is plugged into the brain. The brain then
processes these impulses where they are transformed into an image in our mind. What ourminds experience is an image of the outside world,
similar to how a television projects an image captured by a television camera.
In Putnam’s thought experiment, you imagine that your brain has been severed from the nerves connecting it to your senses (eyes, ears,
nose, etc.) and has been removed from your skull and placed in a vat filled with the nutritional fluid necessary to keep your brain alive
and functioning. Electrical wires have been spliced into your sensory nerves that are connected to the sensory inputs in your brain. The
other ends of these wires are connected to the outputs of a giant super computer. A man sits at the keyboard of this super computer,
inputting data. This data is transformed into electrical/neural impulses that travel through the spliced wire/sensory nerves and into your
brain. The brain processes this information as if it were from your senses. Hence, you have whatever image the man at the keyboard wants
you to have. Suppose he inputs data that you are sitting in a café in France, drinking an espresso. He includes all the usual sensory
data, including the smell and taste of the coffee, the hardness of the chair and table, the cool breeze blowing by, the sounds of the
traffic, and the view of the Eiffel Tower. You experience all of this exactly as if you are really there. In such a situation, you would
have no idea that you(or at least your brain) areactually sitting in some vat in some laboratory.
In 1999, Putnam’s thought experiment became the basis of a megahit movie, The Matrix. However, Putnam was not the first to suggest that
there may be a problem with perceiving and knowing reality. A number of philosophers have wrestled with this problem. This brings us to
your assignment, described below.
In Module/Week 5’s Reading &Study folder, thereare 3short readings. Your assignment is to read them and then write an essay of at least
600 words (in current MLA, APA, or Turabian format) addressing some of the questions listed below (in the “Questions to Consider”
section). You must address the first question; then,choose 1 of the other questions to address also.
While you are free to quote from sources, quotations will not count towards the minimum word count. Plagiarism of any kind will result in
a 0 for the assignment and may result in being dropped from the course.
A note about the readings: The first reading is a synopsis of The Matrix. If you have seen the movie, this will function as a review for
you. If you have not seen the movie, you may choose to do so. However, you should know that the movie is rated R for language and
violence. It is not necessary to view the movie to fulfill the assignment, as the synopsis is enough to consider the questions. The second
reading comes from Plato’s classic work, The Republic. It is in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, a brother of Plato,
and contains the famous cave allegory. The third and final reading is a section from Meditation I, from Meditations on First Philosophy by
Rene Descartes, who offers some reasons to doubt his senses.
Questions to Consider
1. Compare and contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences?
2. Can we prove that the world we are experiencing is real? How do we know we are not dreaming, living in a Platonic cave, or trapped
in some sort of matrix?
3. At the end of the cave allegory, Socrates implies that most men would want to escape the cave and see reality as it really is.
However, in his betrayal of Morpheus,Cypher implies that it is better to live in the artificial world of the Matrix. Which is better: the
harshness of reality, or the “ignorance is bliss” of illusion? Defend your answer.
4. Since much of our knowledge is based on sensory experience, and since our senses are imperfect and can be deceived, can we ever be
certain that our beliefs are true?Defend or explain your answer.
Again, you must address the first question, followed by1 of the others from the list.
Submit this assignment by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 5.Your assignment will be checked for originality via the SafeAssign
plagiarism tool.