Abstract

From Matrix to Don't look up: realism as an ethical-political issue In recent decades, the topic of “reality” has gradually returned to the forefront of philosophy. On the side of ontology, the discourse around the "New Realism", an expression referring to the return of realism to the specialist debate, has been ongoing for some time. In the field of philosophy of mind, following the same line, the “4E” approach argues that mental does not occur solely in the head, but is also embodied, embedded, enacted, or extended by way of extra-cranial processes and structures. In this article, we want to relate this paradigm shift to two successful films: The Matrix (1999) and Don't Look Up (2021). We will try to show how the comparison between the two films well describes the cultural change that led to the renewed philosophical attention to the theme of the “reality” and its socio-political relevance.