Fung Chindavong
Section 12
November 07, 2019
Meitantei Conan: Truth
Meiteitan (detective) Conan is a
90's anime about a 18 year old detective by the name of Kudo Shinichi
who shrinks into the body of a 6 year old from an unknown drug. The people who
gave him the drug think that he is dead, so he is forced to change his name to
Edogawa Conan, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and live with a locally known
detective and his daughter. As time passes by, Edogawa helps the detective
solve cases while also trying to figure out who gave him the drug.
The philosophical view in this anime is based on truth. According
to Edogawa Conan, only one truth will prevail. No matter what happens, whether
it is good or bad, there can only be one outcome; the truth. Even if someone
lies about something that has happened, there will always be a way for the
truth to come out, even if it happens by chance. In a way, it goes hand in hand
with a saying my grandmother always said was "No lie ever gets by
unnoticed in the world," and I believe that to be true. For example, when
I was in high school, I lied to my parents and said that I was at the library
studying when I was really with a boyfriend... Long story short, my grandma
found out that I was lying from someone that happened to be at the same place I
was at the same time, which was just crazy. It definitely shocked me because I
had made sure that I was not seen by too many people, and even though she knew
I was lying, I still lied about it anyways.
Edogawa's philosophy coincides a bit with Aristotle's definition
of truth as well which is “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not
that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not
that it is not, is true”. Perhaps by that, he meant that anything can be said
in terms of explaining why something may be but that doesn't matter as there
can be only one true explanation. Edogawa believes the same thing, and that no
deduction can be considered as a good or bad one. But
how can one deduce what is really real and what is not? It's up to the how the
person perceives things, as we all tend to believe the things that we want
to.
Quiz Questions:
1. What is the name of the detective who believes that there can only be one truth?2. What famous real life detective did he get his alias name from?
3. Edogawa's philosophy is similar to which philosopher?
discussion questions:
1. In terms of truth, do you agree with Edogawa?
2. Do you believe certain things to be true, even when you know that it isn't?
sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth
https://www.britannica.com/topic/truth-philosophy-and-logic
two reports that I commented on:
1. https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/12/mackenzie-marsh-final-post-section-12.html?showComment=1575747248594#c4559733831593120145
2. https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/12/pyrrhos-concept-we-know-nothing.html?showComment=1575747533161#c3352363586475781697
"No lie ever gets by unnoticed in the world" - trouble is, we live in a moment when most everyone notices the lies (even those emanating from the highest public office in the land) but a sizable number of us just don't care. "We all tend to believe the things that we want to" - I don't think we all do, but for too many what they SAY they believe is really just what they want other to believe. Truth, facts, and reality are what they are, but they lose their compelling force when people withdraw their commitment to the way things really are. And then, our "democracy" is in trouble.
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