Inception: Are We Dreaming?

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Are We Dreaming? Have you ever woken up from a dream just to realize that you are stuck in another dream? Dreams within a dream usually happen when you are in REM or deep sleep. A depiction of this circumstance can be seen in the movie Inception. The premise behind the movie is the manipulation of dreams by invading a victim’s dream and planting an idea during the REM stage. The essential plan in the movie is that these main characters, such as Cobb or Arthur, use the “dream within a dream” tactic to manipulate and influence victims accordingly to the client’s will. The dream concept brings to mind Rene Descartes who wanted to establish the possibilities of knowing beyond a doubt of the certainty between reality and dreams. Since our minds can be deceived …show more content…

Descartes argument towards this belief is that one cannot know for certain if they are dreaming or not since we have all experienced dreams that were deemed too real, then only to have woken up and realized it was just a dream after all. Because while we are dreaming, it is indistinguishable from reality; therefore, all of our experiences could have simply came from a dream. If our understanding, senses, and thoughts were only experiences in the dream state, then knowledge of the world would be considered false, a figment of our imagination or a projection of what can be real. Hence, Descartes essential notion is that knowledge is impossible to attain since we cannot know whether or not we are dreaming. So in order to differentiate the differences between dreams versus reality, one has to be and know that they are awake. However, Cobbs in Inception is aware of the fact that he is currently in a dream. He knows that he is dreaming and thus can change the reality of that dream however he likes. Descartes emphasizes that it is impossible to be aware that you are currently in a dream; hence, the blurred nature of dream versus reality still exists

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