This essay is a comparison and contrast of similarities and differences of readings from The Matrix, Plato’s, the Allegory of the Cave, and Descartes, “Meditation I”. I will discuss the epistemology and empirical evidence leading to metaphysics and skeptical reasoning from the excerpts and synopsis assignment. In Plato’s Cave excerpt, the prisoners in the cave have been bound in the cave since their youth and living in a very limited and controlled environment. At what age were they imprisoned? Was is from infancy, toddler or adolescent stages in life? Did they have any human interaction before their imprisonment? What did the shadows represent to them, and how were they able to make and sense or reasoning of them without empirical evidence? If little evidence, one may assume the images appearing on the stone wall were an external…show more content… The prisoner only reality was shadows occasionally appearing on the stone wall. Without these experiences, it may be suggest that the men were unable to correctly identify any of the objects that appeared on the stone wall. In contrast, it have been possible for them to draw conclusions to the identity of the object as introduced by the shadowy figure. Empirical evidence is not the only way for gaining knowledge. Perhaps their inexperience lead them to a precise identification of the objects. Other statements made by Plato concerning the men’s communication skills which stating that, “if they were able to talk to one another,” (Plato, The Allegory of the Cave, p. 1), causes me to ask the question, if the passersby echoed any words, would the prisoners know