Descartes, DiCaprio in Inception

2010 summer blockbuster Inception boasts a premise taken from the bedrock of Descartes’ philosophy. The Christopher Nolan-directed film, starring an ensemble cast fronted by Leonardo DiCaprio, is set in a near future where special agents infiltrate the dreams of unsuspecting targets to extract secret information. In Inception, the spies take up a rare case to implant data. The espionage ensues as dreams become more and more convoluted, and viewers are left unsure as to whether they are awake or dreaming.

In Meditation I, Descartes gives a convincing argument on why we should not trust our senses. The initial few paragraphs he spends building this argument- first saying he had believed some things that were wrong (“I… became aware that I had accepted, even from my youth, many false opinions for true”), then that he will shed those ill-beliefs (“I will at length apply myself earnestly and freely to the general overthrow of all my former opinions”).

He says, “All that I have, up to this moment, accepted as possessed of the highest truth and certainty, I received either from or through the senses. I observed, however, that these sometimes misled us; and it is the part of prudence not to place absolute confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.” Descartes says here that we learn what we do from our senses- our understanding of reality, and the foundation of our lives- but the senses cannot always be trusted. This sets the stage for his following metaphor on dreaming, and our connection to Inception.

“Though this be true, I must nevertheless here consider that I am a man, and that, consequently, I am in the habit of sleeping, and representing to myself in dreams those same things, or even sometimes others less probable, which the insane think are presented to them in their waking moments.” – Here’s a comment on the nature of dreaming, and an obvious tie to Inception. Dreaming is a false stimulation of the senses, and Descartes mentions this to highlight the division between sentience and reality. Descartes later motions that an awareness of this distinction can improve human thinking.

In Inception, dreaming is carried out in various ways. Whether it’s one of the few different heist scenarios, the layman’s escape from reality, or the protagonist’s fantasy world with a former love- dreaming is a virtual reality containing two, three, umpteen layers to be explored. And all of this, a product of deceived senses. It’s interesting to witness how characters react. In one scene, common people are plugged-in to the dreamworld in a basement- some blatantly want to deny reality. (If I had the time I would have written this on most people) The protagonist uses the dream to preserve a loved-one. How often do people continue to hold on to thoughts they know are not true? Descartes would not be down.

The kick at the end of the movie is the spinning top before the credits roll. This rouses many questions- Did the protagonist really make it? Was the movie one big dream? The reality of the movie is uncertain. Descartes could have easily substituted Inception for his metaphor of the demon at the end of Meditation I.