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  • Essay / Plato and the Truman Show: A Discussion of Truth in the Modern Age

    The correct way to determine truth is a dilemma we have been trying to answer for centuries. We see this dramatized in Peter Weiss's The Truman Show, a film that draws heavily on Plato's Allegory of the Cave, one of the best-known philosophical works on the subject of knowledge and truth. Both argue that our understanding of reality is flawed because we only know what we are shown, even if what we are shown is false. This is an interesting concept to explore given that the digital age we live in has led to our generation being surrounded by more data and perspectives than ever before. This is both a blessing and a curse, because it's easy to get lost in a sea of ​​conflicting opinions and information. How to navigate and sort all this? How can we determine the truth when we are inundated with so many versions? These two works give us an excellent starting point for discussing the difficulty of finding a solid epistemological foundation. However, I believe these are flawed analogies of the human search for truth, as they fail to address our modern problem of an increasingly complex reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay Assuming that the ideas of Plato and the Truman Show are flawless, we as humans could all be considered “prisoners” or “Trumans.” » As Christof would say, we “accept the reality of the world presented to us” (Weiss). This is illustrated in both works: the prisoners accepting the shadows on the wall as reality and Truman accepting Seahaven and the connections he has with the people who inhabit it as reality (Plato; Weiss). They each believe that what they see truly reflects the truth because it is all they have ever known. We too, our reality is distorted in the same way. Take the conflicts in Syria for example, we have no way of seeing what is happening there, so we rely on the news to talk about it and tell us what is happening. However, it is impossible to know if the information we get is true because it is filtered by the news agency which has its own ideologies, biases and agendas. There will be a big disparity in the way information is presented between two channels like CNN and FOX. These channels choose what news they want to cover and their political leanings only provide their viewers with information that confirms their pre-existing biases. This is an example of an additional problem in the modern era. We are one step removed and rely on an intermediary, the news, to learn about our extended world. How can we be sure that what we are told is accurate? We too only see the shadows on the wall of a cave, because we too only know what we are told. However, to assume that the ideas presented in Plato's work and in The Truman Show are entirely flawless would be rather naive. You see, Plato's allegory of the cave and The Truman Show act as if there is some sort of absolute, indisputable truth that exists somewhere. They act as if it were a concrete discoverable thing. This idea of ​​an absolute truth suggests that there is only one version of reality that, while comforting, simply isn't accurate. Most issues are complex and are not black and white. This idea of ​​enlightenment and escape from the cave/TV does not take into account the multitude of..