Alex Thorez

Senior Seminar

April 28, 2011

Truth And Perception – Rashomon

In the movie Roshomon, a priest, a woodcutter, and another man are

taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shelter of a former gatehouse. The priest

and the woodcutter are recounting the story of a murdered samurai whose body

was discovered three days earlier in a forest grove. Four people testified at the

trial of the murder: a notorious bandit named Tojumoru, the samurai’s wife, the

woodcutter, and the samurais ghost. There are two views on truth; Errol Morris’

view states that there is only one truth, where as Ebert’s view states that there

are multiple. For me, I would most likely agree with Morris, since it does not

make sense to have more than one killer. Ebert’s theory supports Rashomon

better since there are multiple points of views expressed in the movie; but it is

not possible that 3 different people killed one person. Emotion and self-interest

influence how we see things, this is why people in the movie have different

perspectives that cause to see the truth in a false way. However, the independent

testimony theory contradicts this because it states that due to our senses,

everything is correct.

Although Morris’ theory is very reliable for the film, there is a possibility that

Ebert’s theory is also possible with support from the independent testimony

theory. The reason for this is due to the inconsistency of the stories. Independent

testimony implies that we have different senses and different ways on viewing

things and these allow us to confirm what we see to be true and accurate. For

example, using the woodcutters’ senses, we are able to see how this may be

possible. Depending on his angle and what he viewed, he may use his senses to

see the exact occurrence. For example sound may come into play, because if he

heard someone yell something, which may have supported his beliefs and

thoughts regarding the event. In summary of this counter argument, there is a

possibility that there is no ultimate truth due to the theory of independent

testimony as applied to the movie Rashomon.

Emotions may hinder our beliefs so that things seem more reasonable in

our views, this applies to Rashomon because each character has their own

contium of reason and emotion and the way they perceive things may be

different because its more reasonable in their minds. Therefore, causing

distortion of the truth. The samurai had strong emotions of fury; this is due to

the situation that was occurring. His rage may have hindered his perception

because he wanted to feel as if he was in power. The reason for this is because

during the battle, he was obviously not in control. The samurai is on the extreme

section of the emotion side of the emotion-reason continuum. The emotion and

reason continuum explains human’s mental activities ranging from being very

rational to being very emotional. On a normal day, most people are in the middle

at a state in between emotion and reason. This is usually when you have a

mixture of thoughts. This shows that the samurai’s version of the story had been

distorted by his emotions of anger, allowing things to seem more reasonable to

him. Showing that Morris’ theory is more logical because now we know reasons

why the characters had varying stories.

Using the self-interest theory, in Rashomon, we are able to see how

characters may have tampered with their version of the story to make them see

as if they were the person in control. For example, Tojumoru may have claimed

that he was the one to have killed the samurai to maintain his name as a bandit.

Since both other stories made him seem as if he was a good person, he obviously

did not want that and wanted to make it seem as if he did everything. As the self

–interest theory states, human beings are always selfish in whichever way makes

them look better. Since they were in an intense situation, the human behavior of

being selfish is shown more distinctly than in every day life. This way, each

character looks better for their own pride. Again, demonstrating how Morris’

theory could be possible due to people changing stories to make themselves look

better.

In conclusion, Morris has a more reliable theory, supported by the self-

interest theory and the emotion –reason continuum. Since people act in these

ways, it’s not possible for us to find out the truth. We know that there is only one

truth, however we must see that there is a possibility that Ebert’s theory is true

due to the idea of independent testimonies and confirmation of senses. Using the

self-interest theory and the emotion continuum, we are able to see how people

could likely change the true story for their own purposes and twisting the single

truth.

Works Cited

Lagemaat van de, Richard. Theory of Knowledge for the IB diploma. Cambridge

University Press 2005. Textbook.