Essentialism is a philosophy that believes all things have a set of attributes in order for it to be recognized and to know its function. Moreover, it believes that before anything could exist, there should be a purpose unto why it is made. This philosophy has been very evident in ‘The Matrix’.
The trilogy is an American sci-fi movie that tells a story on how artificial intelligence has conquered humanity and trapped them in a simulated world called ‘Matrix’ to be farmed as a power source. The essence of the Matrix was to keep humans at bay and to serve their purpose of being a battery farm for the machines. All the programs were created to keep order at the Matrix. ‘The Matrix’ itself is the best example to back up the philosophy of essentialism because the essence of the Matrix precedes its existence. It would never have been created in the first place if it doesn’t serve any purpose at all.
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The characters in the trilogy also support the philosophy of essentialism. Long before the current Matrix, there have been major adjustments that have been made by the architects so as to keep humans from living inside the illusion of the Matrix. These adjustments are made with purpose. They didn’t just exist without a purpose but rather they need a purpose before they can exist. Because without that purpose they would only serve as a ‘bug’ in that program.
The Architect, one of the characters, also supports this philosophy with his statement: “You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed. Its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated”. In that statement, I conclude that he is trying to imply that the real essence of Neo, the main character and the one he’s talking to in that dialogue, has a purpose and that purpose was his very essence unto why he existed.
Even the existence of the other programs points to the fact that they are created to serve a purpose and that is to maintain the order in the Matrix. If a pacifier like the programs were not needed to maintain serenity, therefore the machines had no need to create them as they would not serve any purpose. The Oracle for example is created in order to understand the human psyche and to make initial adjustments in order for the Matrix to become more realistic. Inside the Matrix, every single thing there is a copy of the original one. This is pointed out by the youngest crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar, a young man named Mouse. He believes that all of the things uploaded in the simulation was just a mere copy of the original one. But according to Mouse, it could also be an illusion brought to the human mind since the machines cannot exactly know what exactly things are according to the human senses.
Take for example, a chicken, the taste of the chicken could just be a generic code implanted by the machines on the human mind. Since the men in the universe of the Matrix didn’t have a chance to taste what the real chicken is like, it could deceive a lot of them making them believe that it is the real taste of the chicken. This is the same as in the concept of Plato in his world of forms. He believes that everything here in this world is just a copy of the perfect originals in the world of forms. Going back to the movie, it could also be implied that all of the things inside the Matrix is facsimile of the original things in the real world. The blue pills-humans who are still trapped inside the deception of machines inside the Matrix - cannot comprehend the reality outside that is why there is only a certain age limit as to when a person is chosen to be ‘freed’ from the illusion and to be recruited in the resistance. When a person of a certain age is liberated, he wouldn’t be able to take in and would be driven to insanity. It is the same in the concept of philosophy, people would find it hard to accept all of the things unless, you welcomed it with open arms.
With all of these said, I therefore conclude that essentialism is very evident in that masterpiece by the Wachowski Brothers, ‘The Matrix’. You just need to have your eyes and mind open or else you’ll miss the most intricate details that gives away.
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