THE ALLEGORY OF THE MATRIX

Jesus Ramirez
PHILOSOPHY 1000 Jane Drexler

In the movie the matrix the character Cypher comes across as a character who is,
in a way, a little shady with his actions, and words. He ends up making some decisions that
compromise his character and his moral rights. He is wanting to have a life of bliss and
ignorance and not have to worry about all the truths
he has come across as far as the movie goes. His
decision are further influenced by his greed and envy
of Neo, by taking Trinity from him. As well as not
believing Morpheus and all the knowledge that he
proposed to him when he first left the matrix. Our philosophers that we have studied this
semester (Plato, Epicurus, and Epictetus) will all have different views on the decision that
Cypher has made, morally and how this affects him as being a good person and a bad person.
Even though this philosophers have many different ways to look at this ideas, they can
all mostly agree with what makes a person morally right. For example Plato would insist that a
persons ideas of his surrounding influence his morality as he states He will proceed to argue
that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible
world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his followers have been
accustomed to behold? (The Allegory). What we can take from this quote is that when a
person sees the truth around him, thus Cypher, he begins to question all of the things that he
was told by Morpheus. And because he started to question his believe in what Morpheus tells

him, he wants to escape to a blissful mind and have not to worry about the impending troubles
that the human race has to endure in this life time. He then starts to make plans with the
agents to give them Morpheus. With Cypher wanting to go back to a bliss mind he really does
not want to seek further reasoning.
With him doubting his believes, even Epictetus could say that he is not a good person.
He betrays his friends only by the perceptions he has of the world around him. As Epictetus
states, It is not the things that upset people but rather ideas about things. For example, death
is nothing terrible, else it would have seemed so even to Socrates; rather it is the idea that
death is terrible that is terrible (The stoic Catechism pg. 42). He puts it as well since Cypher is
maybe tired of the living in a life of struggle and always being dirty, and what not, that it is the
idea of their maybe not winning the war against the machines and the agents that drives him to
going back to the matrix to where he really does not have to worry about anything else but
himself, having a bliss full mind.
With the bliss mind there is no room to seek further truth, Cypher does not want to stay
out of the matrix anymore. Epictetus would say that Cypher is not a person to seek any other
truths and may even be a waste of a person for not making himself a better person and only
wanting the easy way out. If you want to make progress, shun these sorts of reasoning: If I
neglect my affairs, I shall have nothing to live on: If I dont punish my slave, he will be good
for nothing. For it is better to attain freedom from sorrow and fear and then die of hunger
than to live lavishly in vexation. It is better for your slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy.
Begin with little things. A little oil has been spilled, a little wine has been swiped: say to
yourself, This is the price of peace, that of serenity. Nothing is free. When you call for your

salve, consider that maybe he wont hear you, and even if he does he still wont do what you
want him to do. But he is not so well off that your tranquility should depend on him. (The stoic
Catechism Pg. 42). He states; that what is the point of not learning and not bettering yourself,
there is no process. He would not agree with Cypher because, like I have stated, he wants a
bliss and ignorant mind and wants to be put back in the matrix.
With him making that decision of being put back into the matrix, we can say also that
Epictetus would not agree Cyphers diction, with the quote Dont seek for things to happen as
you wish but wish for things to happen as they do, and you will go on well. (The stoic
Catechism Pg. 42). I believe that he is saying that one should not put his wants in front of your
needs. Not to wish for things to go your way but to be ready when things do come your way.
Since Cypher wants to go back to the matrix, he puts his needs first and eventually meets his
end for betraying Morpheus and the others.
For some reason people always want to put their wants over what their needs are. Like
in this case Cypher wanted to be put back in the matrix, as a rich person like he puts it
someone famous but not to famous. Like a movie star. Which
we can conclude that he is driven by greed. Epicurus would be
against this view of life as he states Some men wished to
become famous and conspicuous thinking that they would thus
win for themselves safety from other man. Wherefore if the life
of such man is safe, they have obtained the good which nature
craves; but if it is not safe, they do not possess that for which they strive at first by the instinct
of nature.(Does life Have Meaning pg. 613). What we can take from this is that although he

wants all this fame and money that he will cut himself off of having any greater knowledge, Or
pretty much just running away from the truth and to Epicurus that would be worth seeking not
just a life of riches and fame.
When someone is all about their wants instead of their needs those that make them a
bad person?? We would all agree that yes because to us that makes a person greedy,
untrustworthy, and just a bad person in a whole. I believe that Epicurus would agree as well.
Since his believes is that the material pleasures do not bring the greatest happiness to a person.
He sums this up in this quote When, therefore, we maintain the pleasure of profligates and
these that consist in sensuality as is supposed by the some who are either ignorant or disagree
with us or do not understand. (PP Handout) He believed that the true happiness would come
from friends and the serenity of life. Although we could say that Cypher is kind of looking for
this, since he is trying to leave the real world, and come back to the matrix. As not to worry
about the war that they are fighting, and trying to find his serenity and have a better way to
live, it is not the way Epicurus would go forward to obtaining such goals.
Since Cyphers goal is to have a happier bliss full life, going back to the matrix, he is
searching for his happiness. He believes, from what we get from the movie, that being rich and
having money is the only way to live a good life. That being his goal when betraying his
teammates and leaving the real world, Epicurus would definably not agree on this terms that
Cypher has set for himself. He would say Health of the body and the souls freedom from
disturbance (PP Handout) He would rather make sure that he is void of pain, that his body
would be healthy and have a clear conscious and keeping things easy on himself and his soul. I
believe that Cyphers choice to betray his teammates would way on his soul more than

anything, although he is going to forget everything when he is sent back, I still believe Epicurus
would say that his soul would carry the burden of his betrayal.
Now let us revisit Plato again, since his allegory of the cave and the matrix are really
alike I believe that he would agree that cypher is making the wrong choice when it comes, not
just to the betrayal, but to being put back in the matrix. He would see it as someone trying to
be put back in the cave, which to him Cypher is just not ready to go either in or satay out of the
cave yet. In his Allegory he statesAnyone who has common sense will remember that the
bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, wither from coming out
of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the minds eye, quite as much as of the
bodily eye; and he who remembers this then he sees anyone whose vision is perplexed and
weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will fist ask whether that soul of man has come out of
the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from
darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light(Allegory Pg. 208-209) I would like to think
that Plato would say that Cypher just has not opened his eyes, or at least has not ready them,
to see the truth that he has encountered when he first left the matrix. Cypher says he is tired of
what Morpheus has told them and things not being what they really seem, but he just really
does not want to worry about the battles at hand and would like to return to the matrix.
I have to say thought that even though some of the philosophers would kind of agree
with Cyphers choice of having a bliss full mind and being able to be happy, in a way, and worry
free. That the way that Cypher when about coming to this goal is completely against their
beliefs. I would have to agree with them, because we are talking about a betrayal that had
three of his team mates killed. Even himself would not be spared and was taken care of at the

end of the movie. Although going back to the matrix would be a much better world then the
real world that Cypher, and the rest of the crew knows, I would have to say that I would not go
back into the matrix. I dont really see having a lot of money, or being famous, as something
that would make me happy. Or at least something that would make me betray my friends over.
Although we would all want a nice cozy life where we would not have to worry about money, or
whatever one worries over, the tradeoff would not seem appealing to me. Specially Plato
where he saw that the mind was that only way to go. Or Epicurus with his ideas of being
painless and having a soul at rest, and Epictetus with his idea that one should not chase after a
different future but to sit back and wait and see what happens and go on from there.

Bibliography

Plato, Book VII, from The Republic in The Republic and Other Works. B. Jowett
New York: Anchor Books, 1973.

Plato, The Apology, G.M.A Grube . Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2000

Epicurus, Hedonism from The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and
Literature. Louis Pojman and Lewis Vaughn . New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Epictetus, The Enchiridion, from The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and
Literature. Louis Pojman and Lewis Vaughn. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
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