There are several different theories and philosophers that could help address the main epistemological question in this movie. Through skepticism, we learn to question our reality and question assumptions that have been made by others. For example, in “The Matrix”, all the other humans believe that the world they are in is truly reality and that is the assumption they have made. However, Neo strays from the norm and questions what true reality is. I would use Rene Descartes to help address this epistemological question. Descartes maintained that he could doubt everything or else he would be able to doubt himself doubting and since he WAS doubting, he must realize there is a doubter. Through his orderly thinking of deductive reasoning, you are able to realize that since you doubt everything means there must be such as thing as doubting. If there is doubting there must be a doubter and therefore since you doubt you must exist. By doubting you are able to be certain of one thing, and that is that you exist. Therefore, through doubting and deductive reasoning on Neo’s part, he learns far more about the existence of reality or the lack there of. The contemporary American philosopher Thomas
Nagel, showed how doubt can challenge people’s understanding of what is real and was one of the first philosophers to do so. He as well as Rene believed in skepticism and identified that one’s own interpretation of senses may not be the same as anyone else’s in the world. Therefore it is unreliable to depend on your senses alone to interpret what is real and what it isn’t. You must rely plainly on your direct experience of the world, which is what Neo ends up having to do.