R: It's the Truman Show

Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the Berkeley Mendenhall Room

Ralli, Théodore. Eavesdropping. 1880. Oil on canvas. 55.5 x 37 cm.

What's the difference between truth and our conception of reality?  In The Truman Show, titular character Truman Burbank lives what he views to be a perfect and ordered life.  However, he experiences a persistent lack of connection with other individuals in his town and has a consistent yearning to seek that which he cannot find.  When he learns the truth, the result is an earth-shattering revelation.  From Plato to Wittgenstein, philosophers have struggled to make the distinction between thought and reality.