Films

Inception

Heather Rivera dreams up a film review. Or does she?

René Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy was published in 1685. The film Inception came out rather more recently (2010), yet in it the viewer explores the very topics that Descartes was philosophizing about over three hundred years ago.

Have you ever been sure that you’ve awoken from a dream, only to find out you are actually still sleeping? Dreams within dreams happen sometimes, in the phase of sleep where REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is full-blown. Descartes, who wanted to establish what it is possible to know beyond doubt, thought about whether we can ever tell for certain if we are dreaming or not. In fact, our minds could be confused by various deceptions.

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