Libertarian Understandingīased on the libertarian understanding, to freely choose to do something, we must have alternate possibilities. This is a transcript from the video series Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy.

But if God knows what we will do before we do it, Boethius asked, how can we freely decide to do what we do? When the Oracle offers him a piece of candy, Neo asks her a simple question: If she already knows whether he is going to take it, how can he freely choose whether to take it? With this, the Wachowskis are borrowing from a philosophical problem that goes as far back as the 6th century and a philosopher named Boethius.īoethius believed that God’s perfection entails God has foreknowledge of the future. He believes Neo will soon fulfill the Oracle’s prophecy and end the war between humans and machines.

Morpheus sees it as an act of desperation because of a recent exponential increase in the number of people they’ve been freeing from the Matrix. Reloaded opens with the revelation that the machines are digging their way to Zion, the underground home city of the remaining humans. However, they tackle philosophical topics clearly and directly-especially the topic of free will.

They just try to sound philosophically sophisticated. One of the main criticisms of the sequels The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions is that while the first movie hit the philosophical nail on the head, the philosophy of the sequels is jumbled. When the Oracle offers him a piece of candy, Neo asks her a simple question: If she already knows whether he is going to take it, how can he freely choose whether to take it? (Image: Illus_man/Shutterstock) A War of Philosophy However, they both represent fundamental philosophical ideas that when combined with the unique visual effects and storytelling, become especially striking. Johnson, Ph.D., King’s College The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions can be considered the most underrated sci-fi sequels of all time as they were largely panned so viciously by critics and audiences.

The matrix free