Richard Rorty Inception

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Rebecca S. Raymond
Professor Valerie Giovanini
Philosophy 170
April 29, 2016
Truth and the Movie, Inception
While watching the movie, Inception, one wonders if the characters see reality as truth and dreaming as some variation of truth, or perhaps another level of truth. The dilemma these characters face is whether they are in reality or in a dream. How do they prove the truth of reality? Thus, Inception can be used as a vehicle to explore the philosophical concept of truth. The objective of this paper is to answer questions relating to truth and Richard Rorty’s criticism of the correspondence theory of truth. In order to accomplish this objective, the paper is organized into four main sections. The first section will answer the question, …show more content…

Rorty criticized this theory of truth as part of his argument to drop the distinction between objective and subjective (Pojman 250). He stated the concept of truth should apply equally to all disciplines, science, considered the objective, as well as humanities and arts, often referred to as subjective. Rorty believed the emphasis of weight placed on truth should not vary between disciplines (Pojman 250). Rorty defended this by claiming that if the distinction between truth as correspondence to reality and truth as well-justified beliefs was eliminated; society would be better off (Pojman 251). He alleged pragmatists do not believe one thing is relative to another, and there should not be any difference between knowledge and opinion. Additionally, Rorty claimed pragmatists do not have a theory of truth (Pojman …show more content…

Truth is not just a conversation, and it certainly is not fuzzy. If we believe Mr. Rorty’s argument that truth is based on what the group believes then the Nazi’s must have been right. Further, Mr. Rorty is mistaken when he aligns himself with pragmatists and says they have no theory of truth. In reality, Mr. Rorty does believe in a concept of truth as Mr. Dennett points out. Mr. Dennett writes that Mr. Rorty agrees with truth having its uses, albeit in a “modest, serviceable way” (Pojman 259). I believe comparing two maps for reliability is using the correspondence theory of truth. So, does this render Mr. Rorty a pragmatist or a

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