Comparison of In a Groove and Transcendence Essay 2022

Running head: COMPARISON OF IN A GROOVE AND TRANSCENDENCE.
Comparison of In a Groove and Transcendence
Name of Student:
Name of University;
Author note:

1
Comparison of In a Groove and Transcendence
In a groove is a well known short story of a murder and its possible suspects by
Rynosuke Akutawaga. This essay deals with the comparison of this short story, In a groove and
the movie Transcendence on the basis of the philosophical theories such as ethics, epistemology,
truth, and others. This essay aims to analyze the characters of the short story and the movie and
compare and contrast the issues with respect to the philosophical theories.
The philosophical theory of ethics is about the ethical values one has and the way one
reacts to a particular situation and whether the conduct of a person is ethically good conduct or
bad conduct (Hughes, Gerard). If this theory is applied on the conduct of Tajomaro in In a
Groove, it is realized that nothing can be compared to the cruelty he has shown towards both
Masago and Takehimo. It poses serious questions on the very ground of morality and ethical
value that a human should have. He raped Masago in front of the very eyes of her husband and
persuades Masagno to come with him by saying; “ Once your virtue is stained, you won’t get
along well with your husband. So won’t you be my wife instead” (Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke).
Comparing his deed with the deeds of Caster in the movie Transcendence, it is hard to tell who
is more morally corrupt or ethically wrong in doing what they did. Dr. Will Caster is so blinded
by his quest for knowledge that he leaves his morality and ethics far behind him. This trait of
Cater can also be related to the philosophical theory of epistemology. Epistemology deals with
the aspects of knowledge, belief, and truth ( Lehrer, Keith). Epistemology talks about skepticism,
rationality and justification of knowledge (Jayatilleke, Kulatissa Nanda). Caster crosses
boundaries to seek knowledge with the believe that he can create a transcendence or
technological singularity. However, in doing so, he puts the entire human civilization at risk by
creating his technological civilization and giving artificial intelligence so much power. Caster
says: “ we are not going to fight them we are going to transcend them” ("Warnerbros.Com |

2
Comparison of In a Groove and Transcendence
Transcendence | Movies") In the process, he hurts so many people, and it poses a serious
question on the wisdom of his choice from the ethical point of view. Even Masagno’s action of
doing nothing for her husband is ethically wrong. Instead of doing something to save her
husband, she wants him dead.
The philosophical theory of truth deals with the study of how one determines the truth
and with empirical and rational. In In a Groove, the quest of truth by the police department by
taking testimonies of several people can be related to the philosophical theory of truth. Here, the
police are determined to know the truth and to do so; they are taking testimonies of several
people to help them determine the truth. This can also be seen in the light of the philosophical
theory of metaphysics. Metaphysics deals with the study of reality and its understanding (Cohen,
S. Marc). The police department, to uncover reality, examines the statements of the testimonies.
A parallel can be drawn between the quest for the truth of the police department and the quest for
the truth of Caster. Dr. Caster, in the movie transcendence, seeks to find out the truth behind the
nature of the universe and in determining the truth does various experiments.
The value theory of philosophy deals with the study of what people consider to be of
worth. In the movie Transcendence, Dr. Will Caster, in the end, realizes his fault and decides to
spare the human population by putting an end to the technological civilization. He takes this step
because he realizes that this is what is of worth for him. Initially, he did not think the human
population to be of worth but after seeing his loved one suffer and especially his wife suffer he
realized that the life of the people he loves of much more worth than his technological
civilization. Similarly in the short story, In a Groove, when Tajomaru decides to rape, Masagno
and flees the crime scene he fails to realize the worth of morality in life and thinks of his own

3
Comparison of In a Groove and Transcendence
safety to be of more worth. This reflects on how different people view what is valuable or
important in life which another aspect of the theory of value.
Therefore, Concluding from the above discussion that both the short story and the movie
both have theories of philosophy embedded in them. The theories of philosophy such as the
epistemology, ethics, and truth is reflected by the various actions of the character. The actions of
Dr. Caster, as well as Tajomaru, reflect their low ethical values in life. The quest of knowledge
of both the police department in the short story and of Dr. caster in the movie reflect the
epistemology. The theory of truth is also reflected in the short story as well as the movie.

4
Comparison of In a Groove and Transcendence
Reference:
"Warnerbros.Com | Transcendence | Movies". Warnerbros.Com, 2019,
https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/transcendence/.
Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke. In a grove. Booklassic, 2015.
Cohen, S. Marc. "Aristotle's metaphysics." (2016).
Hughes, Gerard. Routledge philosophy guidebook to Aristotle on ethics. Routledge, 2013.
Jayatilleke, Kulatissa Nanda. Early Buddhist theory of knowledge. Routledge, 2013.
Lehrer, Keith. Theory of knowledge. Routledge, 2018.