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

to arrest people for “future murder”. The special police force in Pre-Crime had the right to take people in custody because of what they are about to do. Danni Witwer, investigator sent by the government, argued that it did not make any sense, and if Pre-Crime stops the murder then it would not be the future. John Anderson, chief of the Pre-Crime force, replied by grabbing a wooden ball and rolling it across the table. This experiment concluded when Witwer catches the ball before it fell. Anderson proves his point that the future is pre-predicted and just because the ball did not fall, does not mean that it would not have without help. Furthermore, this experiment was referencing what would happen in real life. By having the knowledge of when the murder is going to be conducted and how, gives Pre-Crime a huge advantage in stopping the murder. Pre-Crime, with its knowledge and ability to predict murders stopped the crime from being committed. Throughout this film, it can be seen that power also comes from the fact that Pre-Crime has surveillance everywhere and they know where everyone is. Knowing what is going to happen and where is a big factor in this film, because it gives them a lot of authority and it discourages resistance from the Pre-Crime police. Pre-Crime believe that their system is perfect and the knowledge they obtain from the Pre-Cogs is perfect. Furthermore, they never question the information they receive, because they think that the visions will always come true. Although having knowledge about the murders seem to be a great advantage it also comes with a great cost.
Lamar Burgess, director of Pre-Crime, started this police force by bearing a dark secret.

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

existed.