The Philosophy of Inception
Olivia Edgar
The very idea of Inception is planting an idea inside someone's head but the way they do it is by traveling through people's dreams. The problem with traveling through people’s dreams is that it can be so realistic that it is hard to differentiate reality from dreams. One of the rules of the dream world is that you never create places you have been before if you are the architect but rather create completely original places. If you create places you’ve been it is more difficult to tell which is which. The idea that everything we experience is a dream was first hinted at by Plato but later more played out by Descartes. Descartes believed that we could not tell for sure if the life we are living is a dream or real life.
One of his points is that you can’t trust how you feel. You might be completely confident that you are not dreaming right now, but have not you had a dream that you thought was for sure real. Our feelings mislead us. Many philosophers have debated this topic, but it seems that we can’t be certain that we are not dreaming from a subjective standpoint. This is one of the things that drives Mal to kill herself. They get stuck in limbo and decide to build a life together, but it is all a dream. By the time the main character, Cobb, discovers a way back to reality, his wife is convinced the life they are living is real. When they return to reality and are truly aware she starts to believe it is all a dream and the only way to escape is to die.
This is a problem a few people have faced, even myself although not to this extreme. The only way for people who struggle with this to relieve their angst is to distract themselves with everyday things. Hume also found this out by discovering while he was enjoying everyday pleasures of life he forgot about what philosophical burdens he was struggling with. Much like Cobb at the end of the movie he isn’t 100% sure he has escaped the dream so he tries to use his totem to tell, but he gets distracted by his kids and doesn’t watch to see if it falls. Instead of dwelling over the fact it could be fake he accepts it how it is and is too excited to see his kids. At this point it doesn’t matter as much now if he is dreaming or not, all that matters is that he is enjoying his life. He is having a good time and enjoys seeing his kids. Is that all that should matter? Enjoying things as they come rather than thinking about what all of life means and if what we are experiencing is real or not.
Katherine Tullman suggests that the only way to truly eliminate angst is to take a leap of faith. Which is a very common theme throughout the movie with them and telling them to take a leap of faith. Like when Cobb takes a leap of faith and believes that Satio, a businessman, can have the charges against Cobb, for allegedly killing his wife, Mal, dropped. But leaps of faith can't always be good-after all, Mal took one right out of a window.
Quiz
- What does Descartes believe about dreams?
- Why does Mal kill herself?
- What is Cobb accused of?
- What is one of the rules of being an architect in a dream?
- What is the only true way to eliminate angst?
Discussion Questions
- What causes you the most angst?
- How do you escape your angst?
- Do you think we can tell the difference between dreams and reality?
Posts I commented on
This is the most confusing film I've ever seen, and the more I think about it the more confused I become. I really don't think it's possible to travel through someone else's dreams, exciting as that would be. As for leaps of faith, there are times when we MUST act in the absence of confidence that we're acting correctly. But it's wiser to take a leap of reason whenever possible, and to refrain from acting in haste whenever the situation allows. I don't think our culture adequately appreciates the value of restraint and withheld judgment.
ReplyDelete"Enjoying things as they come rather than thinking about what all of life means" - false dichotomy. Do both, in turn. Some of us actually enjoy thinking about what it all means, and sometimes NOT thinking at all. To everything there is a season.
What causes me the most angst? The perception that others are all too eager to leap recklessly into the darkness (eg, by voting for inexperienced presidential candidates who promise to "blow it up") and take us all down with them.