Film Clips

Here are three films which can be directly related to three philosphical positions.  The Truman Show allows us to reflect on Hard Determinism (Honderich), and the view that free will is an illusion.  The Matrix allows us to reflect on libertarianism (Kant), and on the question posed by Peter Vardy (see quote below) on whether free will occurs particularly in the context of struggle.   Minority Report (2) allows us to consider the question: is free will compatible with determinism (compatibilism: Hobbes or Hume), or “how can we have free will if God has foreknowledge of our actions”?

1. The Truman Show (Scene 16, duration 20 minutes)

Truman has been born into a fake world of a giant TV studio, where every action is controlled by a producer called Christophe. In this clip Christophe is interviewed and explains the thinking behind the Show, and how Truman has been manipulated throughout his life.

a. “Truman likes his cell“. In what ways does the Truman Show resemble Locke’s locked room analogy?

b. Truman is voluntarily participating in the Show, but is he free? What does this tell us of the difference between “freedom” and “voluntariness”? (For further thoughts on this go to Debate: Hobbes v Kant on this site).

c. “We accept the world as it appears to us“. To what extent is freedom something we have “accepted” without questioning its reality?

d. Truman starts to believe something is wrong, and this change in belief encourages him to break out of this fake world. What does this tell us of the relationship between beliefs and freedom? Is it sufficient for us to believe we are free for us to be free? And can beliefs be described as a “brain-state” as determinists suggest?

2. The Matrix (Scene 8, duration 20 minutes)

The Matrix is a giant computer system which has taken over the world, using its own intelligence to trap human beings in a jelly substance and sap their power. In exchange it causes them to inhabit a virtual world of illusion of normality, where in fact the real world has been destroyed. A small band of rebels led by Orpheus stand against the Matrix and its Ghosts. Neo (Keanu Reaves) is given the choice: to enter the Matrix and discover the truth, or to remain in a world of illusion. In this clip Morpheus gives him the choice of the red pill (truth) or the blue pill (illusion).

a. Neo is given the choice to pursue truth or stay with illusion. Does this make Neo a libertarian?

b. Neo is fighting a system designed by Artificial Intelligence. Is our freedom most real when we are fighting something as Robert Kane suggests (see powerpoint slide 19)?

c. Peter Vardy says something similar when he writes:

“Freedom may be an achievement that may need great struggle and hardship to achieve. Freedom and wisdom are linked and the path to freedom is a long and difficult one that may take the whole of a person’s life and may never be fully achieved…when Neo wakes up in the ship, the Nebuchadnezzar, he is traumatized; the truth is so utterly different from what he is expecting. Plato made the same point in the myth of the cave when he said that the task of the philosopher is to seek release from the illusions and shadows of the world which most people take as reality. Those who manage this, see the world in a completely new way and if they try to convey this to others they will be mocked and derided. In the Matrix, Cypher cannot stand the reality of the world he lives in – freedom is too painful and difficult and so he chooses to betray his friends and to re-enter the Matrix where he will forget everything and just “be happy”. There is a sense in which the search for happiness is like a drug which can immunize one against seeking truth and becoming free…chains are formed which actually make the journey towards freedom much harder. The right question may be therefore,not “are we free?”, but “how free am I?” and “do I really want to be free?” Freedom may be a destination which will not be easily achieved and will never be possible unless we, as individuals, seek to become self-aware and to understand the forces that act on us.

Peter Vardy (Ethics Conference Spring 2009)

d.  A harder thought point: Kant speaks of a world behind this world, a noumenal world of things-in-themselves, or categories of perception, which control what we see, a bit like wearing pink-coloured glasses.  Is the Matrix a bit like this world of Kant, an unseen world-behind-a-world which we access by exercising our free will and reason? (Though the Matrix world is essentially evil and Kant’s is good, th realm of God and angels)?

Minority Report (Start at 1 hour 34 mins and run for 10 minutes)

The police are able to arrest people before they commit murders due to the unique powers of three ‘pre-cogs’ which give them godlike foreknowledge. As a result, no murders have been committed for several years, although many people are arrested for ‘future crime’. These future crimes are mainly crimes of passion, as few people are foolish enough to plan a murder, knowing that they will be caught before they even carry out the act.

Detective Dan Witwer (Colin Farrell) has been sent to investigate whether the Pre-Crime Initiative should be allowed to continue.

John Anderton (Tom Cruise) discovers that the pre-cogs have predicted that he will murder a man he has never met and never heard of. Convinced that someone is trying to set him up he goes on the run. Eventually he abducts one of the pre-cogs and finds himself at the building where he is supposed to commit the murder, only a few minutes before it is due to happen. The second film clip takes things from that point. The countdown on Anderton’s watch is to the time when the murder is due to take place.

1. List some of the factors that limit your freedom of action.  How does free choice relate to these?

2. Agatha says: “You have a choice.  The others didn’t see the future, but you still have a choice.”  To what extent is John Anderton free at this moment of the story?

3.  What does the outcome reveal about the nature of free will and determinism?

4.  Is it possible to believe in both free will and determinism (a compatibilist position)?  Explain your view.

5.  How might the film relate to God’s foreknowledge of our actions?