Compare And Contrast Descartes And The Truman Show

Could all of reality be a dream? Discuss, with reference to Descartes’ Meditations and a relevant film or novel of your choice.

Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy poses the idea that the world we are familiar with is a constructed reality created within our minds and that we lack evidence to prove otherwise. The idea that our reality could simply be a dream is also present in the film The Truman Show, which follows the title character’s realisation that he has been living in a reality television show. Both Descartes and the eponymous character of Truman go through episodes of self-discovery which leads them to new ideas of reality and existence. Descartes’ belief is that our reality must be questioned; this is similar to the way that Truman begins to question his. Meditations on First

The First Meditation of Descartes’ work deals with this idea, suggesting that what we are convinced is reality could just as easily be a dream. He says of this:

“How often, asleep at night, am I convinced of just such familiar events – that I am here in my dressing-gown, sitting by the fire – when in fact I am lying undressed in bed! […] All this would not happen with such distinctness to someone asleep. Indeed! As if I did not remember other occasions when I have been tricked by exactly similar that’s while asleep!”

Here, Descartes is acknowledging that he has an inability to distinguish between dreams and reality; there have been many times when he has been convinced that his dream is his “true” life. Likewise, in The Truman Show, the title character finds himself happily living without question in his “reality”, which is an artificial set, including characters playing Truman’s friends and family who know of the truth of the situation. Christof, the creator of the set and show, at one point acknowledges this:

“We accept the reality of the world with which we are