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Questions tagged [dreams]

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111 votes
26 answers
52k views

How does one know one is not dreaming?

How could one logically demonstrate to someone skeptical that one is "really" there, and awake, and not just dreaming about the entire world around them? Which philosophers or philosophies ...
wizlog's user avatar
  • 1,277
6 votes
7 answers
698 views

Have any thinkers applied empiricism to the dreaming and deep sleep states?

The Mandukya Upanishad is a philosophical text found in the Vedas, which are among the most important scriptures of Hinduism. Here is what V. Subrahmanya Iyer says in a foreword to a translation of ...
Keshav Srinivasan's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

Convincing a brain in a vat of reality

Pondering at the arguments at wiki: In other words, if a brain in a vat stated "I am a brain in a vat", it would always be stating a falsehood. If the brain making this statement lives in the "...
user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
747 views

Is dying in a simulation ever sufficient for death, and if not does that make death inconceivable?

Is dying in a simulation -- any simulation at all -- ever physically sufficient to die at that instant outside it? I mean a simulation like in the film the Matrix, or in a dream, one that kills your ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Does Descartes prove that he isn't dreaming?

I had a midterm question where this was relevant, essentially it was: "Assuming you're an atheist, how would you prove to Descartes that your last vacation wasn't a dream?" I put that since ...
Tyler's user avatar
  • 204
4 votes
2 answers
732 views

Who was the philosopher with the thought experiment about the king who dreamt he was a pauper?

The story went, a king dreamt he was a pauper every night, and a pauper dreamt he was a king every night. The philosopher asked whether there was a difference between the two.
Jonathan's user avatar
  • 309
4 votes
5 answers
489 views

Dreams inside dreams

When I was a little med student we had a philosophy lecturer in to talk about ethics and she mentioned the Chinese proverb about the man who dreamt he was a butterfly and now wasn't sure he wasn't the ...
user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

Can I know I am not dreaming if I can't tell the difference between sleep and wake?

I know this question has been asked before, so before you shut it down for being a duplicate, please hear me out. The answers I saw in other similar threads were not satisfactory to me and they left ...
Aleksandr Hovhannisyan's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
313 views

Can applicable skills be gained through dreaming?

Recently had a dream where I was in a situation I have never been before in "real life" - (no real experience prior to the dream of this situation). After waking, all the feelings, thoughts, ...
Greg McNulty's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
291 views

Why does striving to achieve my goals make me suffer so?

I am continually confused by my desires. Normally I love being alone, watching movies and eating snacks--just living life. But I don't know what devil has possessed me to desire more, to achieve more, ...
EconBoy's user avatar
  • 33
3 votes
6 answers
1k views

Dreaming and Awakening: Both False?

Please pardon my layman's language as I am not a student of philosophy. I was talking to a friend who has read Advaita Philosophy of Shankara in-depth. He iterated the fundamental theory of this ...
Vivekanand Pujar's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
229 views

Is Oedipus/Electra Complex real? [closed]

Is it possible that the Oedipus Complex is real? Freud couldn't prove this because normal people were too afraid to come forward and testify to his theory. My point is when we have erotic dreams, ...
Rabail Anjum's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
188 views

Does Descartes exclude madness from his meditations?

For Descartes, is madness fundamentally different to dreaming? Reading these blog posts (I am unfamiliar with the discussion really), which has a few points against Foucault's analysis that it is ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
220 views

Philosophy of dreams

According to some eastern teachings (Tantric, Buddhist, etc) it's a good thing to ponder and meditate on dreams: Dream 1 A person dreams of finding money or gold or any other luxuries. This ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
238 views

Which branch combines solipsism and monism?

Which branch of philosophy whole-heartedly accepts (and builds upon) that only self exists (solipsism) and the universe is the part/creation of self (monism) by eliminating the possibility of ...
tejasvi's user avatar
  • 313

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