0:00:08.588,0:00:11.000
How do we really know, that that [br]which we see,

0:00:11.000,0:00:14.288
touch and taste really exists?

0:00:14.538,0:00:16.544
What is reality?

0:00:16.550,0:00:19.180
The objects or how we perceive them?

0:00:19.187,0:00:21.973
Do we see the world as its is, [br]or is the world what it is,

0:00:21.973,0:00:23.531
because we perceive it as such?

0:00:23.531,0:00:24.942
Let's imagine the following:

0:00:24.942,0:00:27.296
We are in a cave, deep underground.

0:00:27.296,0:00:28.864
There is no visible daylight.

0:00:28.864,0:00:32.037
In this cave, people are tied [br]to chairs in such a way

0:00:32.037,0:00:34.408
that they can only look at the cave wall.

0:00:34.408,0:00:35.898
From the time [br]they are born,

0:00:35.902,0:00:38.383
they are shown black-and-white [br]movies continuously.

0:00:38.383,0:00:42.161
The audience believes that the film[br]is a true reflection of reality.

0:00:42.191,0:00:44.843
What sounds like an experiment[br]from the 3rd Reich,

0:00:44.843,0:00:47.562
is actually a 2000-year-old mind game,

0:00:47.671,0:00:49.596
conceived by Socrates' star pupil:

0:00:49.596,0:00:50.429
Plato!

0:00:50.469,0:00:51.532
Now suppose,

0:00:51.532,0:00:55.188
that one of these bold youngsters [br]actually escapes from the cave

0:00:55.188,0:00:59.038
and sees the three-dimensional, colourful [br]world for the first time.

0:00:59.038,0:01:00.581
How would he feel?

0:01:00.589,0:01:03.399
Probably similar to the brave Keanu Reeves[br]in the "Matrix",

0:01:03.399,0:01:06.413
in the scene where he wakes up in[br]real world for the first time.

0:01:06.413,0:01:07.317
And worst of all,

0:01:07.317,0:01:10.395
if our ancient Neo were to [br]return to his friends

0:01:10.695,0:01:13.342
and tell them that the world [br]as they know it

0:01:13.342,0:01:14.628
isn't real…

0:01:14.712,0:01:17.112
then he would be dismissed as a madman.

0:01:17.221,0:01:20.024
According to Plato, our reality[br]is based on 'ideas'

0:01:20.305,0:01:23.796
Objects, and how we experience them,[br]are only their images.

0:01:24.003,0:01:27.237
However, for Plato the term 'idea'[br]represented more.

0:01:27.288,0:01:29.214
It was about the essence of all things,

0:01:29.214,0:01:32.425
that which we saw [br]as part of an ideal world

0:01:32.545,0:01:34.446
and that which we recalled from memory.

0:01:34.655,0:01:37.085
What he pioneered with this is a doctrine

0:01:37.085,0:01:38.081
called "idealism",

0:01:38.531,0:01:41.135
to which Leibnitz and Kant [br]later also subscribed to.

0:01:41.135,0:01:43.467
However, this does not mean [br]diligently donating

0:01:43.467,0:01:45.228
to victims of natural disasters

0:01:45.228,0:01:48.222
or serving soup to the homeless [br]at Christmas.

0:01:48.390,0:01:51.512
Just as the real meaning of "materialism",

0:01:51.512,0:01:55.306
isn't the "My house, My boat, My [br]investment advisor" song sung by Madonna

0:01:55.306,0:01:57.295
or the meaning of the Yuppie Lifestyle.

0:01:57.693,0:02:02.022
Materialism is the philosophical [br]countermovement to idealism.

0:02:02.093,0:02:05.542
Idealism sees the origin [br]of reality in the "idea",

0:02:05.542,0:02:08.839
whereas with materialism "matter" [br]is decisive.

0:02:08.839,0:02:11.598
Thus, reality arises due to the [br]effect of the environment

0:02:11.598,0:02:13.896
and not by the way in which [br]we perceive it.

0:02:14.019,0:02:17.478
To the question "What is?" [br]materialism answers:

0:02:17.478,0:02:18.582
Only matter.

0:02:18.582,0:02:20.281
The world exists how it is

0:02:20.281,0:02:22.555
and we must conform to its laws.

0:02:22.555,0:02:24.941
Sounds bleak in the long run, though,[br]doesn't it?

0:02:24.941,0:02:27.932
So, are we just the ball[br]in a cosmic pinball machine then?

0:02:27.932,0:02:29.806
So where does reality lie?

0:02:29.806,0:02:32.578
Within us or out there?

0:02:32.578,0:02:34.784
This game ends in a draw