Introduction
Abstraction in philosophy is the logical understanding process through which concepts are generated as to their form. It is the segregation of everything by which given presentation differ. It is the process of generalizing by reducing information content to retain relevant information for a particular purpose. In the movie, it can be said to be what Cobb does to get the information he wants from his victims.
Three single objects belong to a class that you must experience before you develop an abstraction. These objects are categorization, conceptualization and finally theorization. Categorization involves grouping objects based on their similarities and properties. Conceptualization is trying to explain how knowledge is represented; here the objects are classified according to their conceptual description. In theorization, the process involved is grouping things based on the ideas of necessity and sufficiency.
These objects are all related to abstraction in that, for you to be able to separate the information you need – abstraction, you will require them. First, you have to categorize your information according to their similarities. Secondly, the information should be conceptualized in order to explain how the information is represented. Finally, theorization will be necessary to show the necessity and sufficiency of the abstraction.
St. Thomas and Aristotle both in moderate realism, the view that there is no realism where universal concepts exist but are located in time and space whenever they happen to be manifest. They distinguish between the object itself and the way it exists. For example, a thing in the mind is universal but in reality is an individual. The real ideas are located in our minds. This is through life experiences; they are independent of the act of perception and their names.
Race is where an individual from a different race perceive another of a different race as inferior. In the movie, there are many instances of racism promoted by Cobbs, a character of an American origin. He shows discrimination to people of the African origin in some of the questions he asks. For example, he asks, what do you call a black person having sex? To which he replies to be rape. This shows how the white perceive people of African origin as weak mentally and cannot distinguish between rape and sex. Another instance is exposed when he, Cobbs and Saito are conversing and he tells him not to talk about elephants. As the conversation continuous, he tells him that he is the one who gave him the idea. This shows that Cobb, a representative of the whites in the movie discriminate against the Asian, Saito. He shows that they cannot form an idea on themselves unless it originates from the whites.
It is possible to communicate in the unconscious form of reality. We can communicate in our dreams when our subconscious presumes that the dream is a reality. This is the form of communication that is used by Cobbs and Arthur in extracting information from their victims. Most of the characters in the movie have given statements that suggest that whatever is happening was indeed in a dream. For example, Saito tells Cobbs that he reminds him of someone he met in a half-remembered dream. This shows that indeed, people not only communicate in their dreams but can also remember the dream.
In a conversation where Cobbs is extracting information from Saito, Saito demands to know the name of Cobbs’ employer while he is holding a gun at Arthurs head. Cobbs respond by telling him there is no need of threatening him in a dream. Mal says that it will depend on what the treat is about because killing him- in the dream will wake him up but pain is in the mind. In the conversation, it is evident therefore that we can talk in our dreams without our consciousness.
Communication is not only a necessary condition of human existence but also an important tool in forming and sustaining human relationships. The use of appropriate language influences how people interact and relate. In the movie, language influences the relationship of the characters where little misunderstanding causes commotion.
Love can be described as an abstract idea because it can be defined in more than one way depending on the context. Some of the characteristics of love are selfless, kind, thoughtful, forgiving, supportive, respectful, faithful and attentive among others.
First level abstraction is the concrete operation stage. This stage gives human the ability to deal with dualities- the distinction between two thing for example black and white, right or wrong and good or bad among others.
The relation between dream and time is that, in a dreamtime seem to be long than in real time. When someone sleeps for a short time, in their dream, when they wake, they think they slept the whole day. However, this relation is not real and only exists in our minds. Dreams can take three forms of time that is past, present and/ or future, therefore, ‘now’ is a constitute of a dream.
Immanent motion is the most appropriate reference in the dreams in the movie. This is because; the dreams are all within the victims mind. The conversations are in the mind and all the actions take place there. It cannot be transient because some of the dreams take very long.
