Minority Report Epistemology

In 2056 murder rates in Washington D.C. will be reduced by 90%. This is based on the movie Minority Report, a world in which has a special police force stationed in Washington D.C. called Pre-Crime. Throughout this film, many philosophies can be seen such as truth and value theory, but the most impactful and repeating philosophy is epistemology, or the study of knowledge. Epistemology is the most prominent branch of philosophy due to its importance and reoccurrence that is found in this film. It is most simply shown in power and authority, the creation of Pre-Crime and the system, and the ability to change the future.

Knowledge is power. As seen in this film, having the knowledge and access to the Pre-Cogs gave people power and authority

In order to create a society with no murder he first had to commit it. Agatha, the smartest of the Pre-Cogs, was stolen away by him, and her mother Anne Lively wanted her back. What is more, he tricked the people of Pre-Crime in thinking that the murder he was going to commit was an “echo” or a repetition of a crime that already was solved. He used this knowledge and his authority to cover up his tracks so that no one will ever suspect him. The whole company was created by knowing how the pre-visions worked and Burgess gained his high position by manipulating the pre-visions and that is what is known as the “minority report”. He used this knowledge to his benefits and when Witwer found out that there was a minority report Burgess killed him to save himself from the crime he committed. On the other hand, Dr. Iris Hineman, the co-founder of Pre-Crime, tried to use this knowledge for good. It was first a test to save people like Agatha who were deathly ill. She used knowledge to try to further the advancement of medicine but created something else. Hineman was one of the few people who knew of the minority report and told Anderson about it. It shocked Anderson because he did not know whether or not the visions the Pre-Cogs have are always telling the truth. He fears that he locked away innocent people that did nothing wrong. He began to doubt the Pre-Cogs and their pre-visions, and believes that he has a minority report that will prove his innocence. The whole film was based on the creation on Pre-Crime, and without the knowledge of how to use this information, Pre-Crime would have never