
The Matrix and Philosophy
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $13.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Oliver Wyman
-
Rick Adamson
-
Jennifer Jay Myers
-
By:
-
William Irwin
-
Editor
About this listen
Is the world around us truly as it appears or are we inert bodies in tanks, our brains electronically stimulated to create a make-believe world which is all we know? This old philosophical puzzle has become cutting-edge cool with the appearance of the Keanu Reeves cult sci-fi movie, The Matrix.
The Matrix is the most philosophical film ever made, every step of its fast-paced plot pivoting on a philosophical conundrum. If the world as we know it is nothing more than our dream, does this make the dream real? If we had the choice to step out of our world into a more real but less pleasant one - to take the red pill - would it be a moral failure not to do so? Why do humans have a value above that of intelligent electronic mechanisms? Can the mind live without the body or the body without the mind?
In The Matrix and Philosophy, professional philosophers analyze The Matrix from many angles: metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and aesthetic. They uncover hidden depths in this intricate work of art, and often reach disturbing conclusions. Those who take the red pill never look at 'the real world' the same way again.
The Matrix and Philosophy is also available in print from Open Court Books.
©2002(P)2002 Random House, Inc.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Soul’s Code
- In Search of Character and Calling
- By: James Hillman
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this extraordinary best seller, James Hillman presents a brilliant vision of our selves, and an exciting approach to the mystery at the center of every life that asks, “What is it, in my heart, that I must do, be, and have? And why?” Drawing on the biographies of figures such as Ella Fitzgerald and Mohandas K. Gandhi, Hillman argues that character is fate, that there is more to each individual than can be explained by genetics and environment. The result is a reasoned and powerful road map to understanding our true nature and discovering an eye-opening array of choices.
-
-
Not up to the standard of Hillman's usual work
- By rebekah higgins on 01-31-20
By: James Hillman
-
'House' and Philosophy
- Everybody Lies
- By: Henry Jacoby
- Narrated by: Henry Jacoby
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An unauthorized look at the philosophical issues raised by popular television show House. House was one of the top three television dramas on the air, pulling in more than 19 million viewers for each episode. This latest book in the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series takes a deeper look at the characters and issues raised in this Emmy Award-winning medical drama, offering entertaining answers to the fascinating ethical questions viewers have about Dr. Gregory House and his medical team.
-
-
Sounds like a college paper
- By MannyandJess on 02-03-23
By: Henry Jacoby
-
The Ultimate Guide to ChatGPT
- A Beginner's Handbook to Understanding Prompt Engineering, the Future of Artificial Intelligence and How to Use It Effectively
- By: Percival C. Verena
- Narrated by: KC Wayman
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With this beginner’s handbook, you’ll learn how to use ChatGPT efficiently and create maximized results. Create natural, human-like conversations, being aware of its limitations and biases, and prepare for the artificial intelligence future.
-
-
Bland and generic
- By Matt on 10-10-23
-
Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence
- By: Rafal Kosik, Stefan Kielbasiewicz - translator
- Narrated by: Cherami Leigh
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In sparkling Night City, a ragtag group of strangers have just pulled off a heist, robbing a convoy transporting a mysterious container belonging to Militech. The only thing the group has in common is that they were blackmailed into participating in the heist—and they have no idea just how far their mysterious employer's reach goes, or the purpose of the artifact they stole.
-
-
Very Cyberpunk!
- By Tyler Houston on 08-10-23
By: Rafal Kosik, and others
-
Transcending the Maya Matrix
- Using the Seven Simple Steps: Our Innate Guide to Co-Creation & Self-Realization
- By: Omar M. Makram
- Narrated by: Omar M. Makram
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a lifetime of meditating, teaching, traveling, and learning, author and podcaster Omar M. Makram states that trusting our innate guide is the missing ingredient that can create the life of which we have dreamed. He encourages you to let go of the confusing chatter that leads to your unfulfilled potential.
-
-
Not easy to understand
- By Mubarak on 01-14-19
By: Omar M. Makram
-
The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know
- By: The Great Courses, Joshua N. Winn
- Narrated by: Professor Joshua N. Winn
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.
-
-
Fun across the universe
- By Mark on 01-08-16
By: The Great Courses, and others
-
The Soul’s Code
- In Search of Character and Calling
- By: James Hillman
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this extraordinary best seller, James Hillman presents a brilliant vision of our selves, and an exciting approach to the mystery at the center of every life that asks, “What is it, in my heart, that I must do, be, and have? And why?” Drawing on the biographies of figures such as Ella Fitzgerald and Mohandas K. Gandhi, Hillman argues that character is fate, that there is more to each individual than can be explained by genetics and environment. The result is a reasoned and powerful road map to understanding our true nature and discovering an eye-opening array of choices.
-
-
Not up to the standard of Hillman's usual work
- By rebekah higgins on 01-31-20
By: James Hillman
-
'House' and Philosophy
- Everybody Lies
- By: Henry Jacoby
- Narrated by: Henry Jacoby
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An unauthorized look at the philosophical issues raised by popular television show House. House was one of the top three television dramas on the air, pulling in more than 19 million viewers for each episode. This latest book in the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series takes a deeper look at the characters and issues raised in this Emmy Award-winning medical drama, offering entertaining answers to the fascinating ethical questions viewers have about Dr. Gregory House and his medical team.
-
-
Sounds like a college paper
- By MannyandJess on 02-03-23
By: Henry Jacoby
-
The Ultimate Guide to ChatGPT
- A Beginner's Handbook to Understanding Prompt Engineering, the Future of Artificial Intelligence and How to Use It Effectively
- By: Percival C. Verena
- Narrated by: KC Wayman
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With this beginner’s handbook, you’ll learn how to use ChatGPT efficiently and create maximized results. Create natural, human-like conversations, being aware of its limitations and biases, and prepare for the artificial intelligence future.
-
-
Bland and generic
- By Matt on 10-10-23
-
Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence
- By: Rafal Kosik, Stefan Kielbasiewicz - translator
- Narrated by: Cherami Leigh
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In sparkling Night City, a ragtag group of strangers have just pulled off a heist, robbing a convoy transporting a mysterious container belonging to Militech. The only thing the group has in common is that they were blackmailed into participating in the heist—and they have no idea just how far their mysterious employer's reach goes, or the purpose of the artifact they stole.
-
-
Very Cyberpunk!
- By Tyler Houston on 08-10-23
By: Rafal Kosik, and others
-
Transcending the Maya Matrix
- Using the Seven Simple Steps: Our Innate Guide to Co-Creation & Self-Realization
- By: Omar M. Makram
- Narrated by: Omar M. Makram
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a lifetime of meditating, teaching, traveling, and learning, author and podcaster Omar M. Makram states that trusting our innate guide is the missing ingredient that can create the life of which we have dreamed. He encourages you to let go of the confusing chatter that leads to your unfulfilled potential.
-
-
Not easy to understand
- By Mubarak on 01-14-19
By: Omar M. Makram
-
The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know
- By: The Great Courses, Joshua N. Winn
- Narrated by: Professor Joshua N. Winn
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.
-
-
Fun across the universe
- By Mark on 01-08-16
By: The Great Courses, and others
-
A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake
- Unlocking James Joyce's Masterwork
- By: Joseph Campbell, Henry Morton Robinson, Edmund L. Epstein - editor
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Countless would-be readers and listeners of Finnegans Wake - James Joyce's 1939 masterwork, on which he labored for a third of his life - have given up after a few pages and "dismissed the book as a perverse triumph of the unintelligible." In 1944, a young professor of mythology and literature named Joseph Campbell, working with novelist and poet Henry Morton Robinson, wrote the first guide to understanding the fascinating world of Finnegans Wake.
-
-
Essential reading
- By Peter Mark McKenna on 03-11-23
By: Joseph Campbell, and others
-
Be Water, My Friend
- The Teachings of Bruce Lee
- By: Shannon Lee
- Narrated by: Shannon Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruce Lee is a cultural icon, renowned the world over for his martial arts and film legacy. But Lee was also a deeply philosophical thinker, learning at an early age that martial arts are more than just an exercise in physical discipline - they are an apt metaphor for living a fully realized life. Now, in Be Water, My Friend, Lee’s daughter, Shannon, shares the concepts at the core of his philosophies, showing how they can serve as tools of personal growth and self-actualization.
-
-
A different yet useful self help book
- By Yuri Fronda Rabena on 10-14-20
By: Shannon Lee
-
Batman and Psychology
- A Dark and Stormy Knight
- By: Travis Langley
- Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Batman is one of the most compelling and enduring characters to come from the Golden Age of Comics, and interest in his story has only increased through countless incarnations since his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. Why does this superhero without superpowers fascinate us? What does that fascination say about us? Batman and Psychology explores these and other intriguing questions about the masked vigilante.
-
-
good job
- By deborah mccarter on 09-14-20
By: Travis Langley
-
The God Equation
- The Quest for a Theory of Everything
- By: Michio Kaku
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Newton discovered the law of gravity, he unified the rules governing the heavens and the Earth. Since then, physicists have been placing new forces into ever-grander theories. But perhaps the ultimate challenge is achieving a monumental synthesis of the two remaining theories—relativity and the quantum theory. This would be the crowning achievement of science, a profound merging of all the forces of nature into one beautiful, magnificent equation to unlock the deepest mysteries in science: What happened before the Big Bang?
-
-
Not what you may think
- By Anne85 on 04-11-21
By: Michio Kaku
-
Irrational Man
- A Study in Existential Philosophy
- By: William Barrett
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely recognized as the finest definition of existentialist philosophy ever written, this book introduced existentialism to America in 1958. Irrational Man begins by discussing the roots of existentialism in the art and thinking of Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Baudelaire, Blake, Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Picasso, Joyce, and Beckett. The heart of the book explains the views of the foremost existentialists - Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The result is a marvelously lucid definition of existentialism and a brilliant interpretation of its impact.
-
-
heady
- By A. Antine on 07-28-22
By: William Barrett
-
Cinema Speculation
- By: Quentin Tarantino
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Quentin Tarantino
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans—and all movie lovers—could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining.
-
-
A letdown I didn't see coming.
- By polycow on 11-03-22
-
Blade Runner
- Originally published as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment: find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found!
-
-
This is the original Do Androids Dream of Electric
- By D. ABIGT on 08-29-10
By: Philip K. Dick
-
The Trap
- What It Is. How It Works. And How We Escape Its Illusions
- By: David Icke
- Narrated by: David Icke
- Length: 18 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Icke has been writing books for decades warning that current events were coming. He has faced ridicule and abuse for saying that the end of human freedom was being planned, how, and by whom. The Trap is the "Rosetta Stone" of illusory reality and opens the door to freedom in its greatest sense. Listen to this book and the "world" will never look the same again. The veil of illusion shall be swept aside and the amazing truth this has kept from us shall set you free.
-
-
BEST DAVID ICKE BOOK EVER!!!
- By Vitaly on 09-03-22
By: David Icke
-
You Are the Universe
- Discovering Your Cosmic Self and Why It Matters
- By: Menas C. Kafatos PhD, Deepak Chopra
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author Deepak Chopra joins forces with leading physicist Menas Kafatos to explore some of the most important and baffling questions about our place in the world.
-
-
Add this one to your list of must listens.
- By Richard McClelland on 03-09-17
By: Menas C. Kafatos PhD, and others
-
No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life
- By: Robert C. Solomon, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert C. Solomon
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is life? What is my place in it? What choices do these questions obligate me to make? More than a half-century after it burst upon the intellectual scene - with roots that extend to the mid-19th century - Existentialism's quest to answer these most fundamental questions of individual responsibility, morality, and personal freedom, life has continued to exert a profound attraction.
-
-
Good for even a non-existentialist
- By Gary on 07-24-15
By: Robert C. Solomon, and others
-
A Letter to Liberals
- Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals
- By: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Narrated by: Bruce Wagner
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A leading Democrat challenges his party to return to liberal values and evidence-based science.
-
-
One-sided, interesting but biased
- By Dr. Ellingham on 06-07-23
-
Beyond Good and Evil
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Roy McMillan
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Continuing where Thus Spoke Zarathustra left off, Nietzsche's controversial work Beyond Good and Evil is one of the most influential philosophical texts of the 19th century and one of the most controversial works of ideology ever written. Attacking the notion of morality as nothing more than institutionalised weakness, Nietzsche criticises past philosophers for their unquestioning acceptance of moral precepts. Nietzsche tried to formulate what he called "the philosophy of the future".
-
-
Great Book, great Audio Narration
- By Robert on 01-07-11
Critic reviews
"Whatever your philosophical cup of tea, The Matrix and Philosophy is your teahouse." (Lou Marinoff, author of Plato Not Prozac and Philosophical Practice)
I very much enjoyed the first few chapters. After that the book became quite repetitive with each essay overlapping the previous.
An in depth philosophical analysis of The Matrix
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Way over my head
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Don’t bother
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thought Provoking
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting but...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Be prepared for serious philosophical thinking
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Overall, I did enjoy this book regardless of the same thing said over and over.
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
More Philosophy, Less Matrix
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Disappointing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
While majority of viewers watched it for stunning and violent action, critics and film makers - for sound and visual effects, the philosophers noticed the non-trivial references to various schools of thought from Buddhism, through cartesianism, to existentialism and postmodernism.
The book surprised me positively. First and foremost, the authors whose essayes are in the book are really distinguished philosophers. Let me only name few: William Irwin, Jorge Garcia, Theodore Shick or Slavoj Zizek from about 20 names.
Second - the authors mostly took The Matrix as the inspiration of some deeper philosophical analysis. These analysis are very interesting and deep, but what is the most important fact is that it is the iconic movie of modern culture that ignited the fire of millenia long dilemmas.
It is impossible in short review to analyse the actual thoughts and polemicize with them.
There are fantastic passages about Platonic ideas, about Rene Descartes "Devil" or about Kant forms of perception.
Let me, however, look closer at the article "Popping a Bitter Pill: Existential Authenticity in The Matrix and Nausea" by Jennifer L. MacMahon. She analyses the transition undergone by main characters of The Matrix (Neo) and Sartre's "La Nause?" (Roquentin). In both cases is is about authenticity.
The another worth mentioning essay is "Real Genre and Virtual Philosophy" by Deborah Knight and George McKnight.
It is very important because it uncovers how many of The Matrix philosophical motives could rather be attributed to specific genre it is deeply rooted.
The general conclusion is, that while The Matrix itself is certainly not philosophical fairy-tale and is full of contradictions and serious simplifications - it ignited much deeper discussion...
When a movie becomes an object for philosophers
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.