Questions tagged [dreams]
21 questions
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How does one know one is not dreaming?
How does one know one is not dreaming? How could one logically demonstrate to a skeptic that one is "really" there, awake and not just dreaming about the entire situation/world around him?
What I'm asking is: which if any philosophers have addressed…
wizlog
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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 the Mandukya Upanishad:
While [the Mandukya…
Keshav Srinivasan
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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 real body at the same instant that you seem to…
user44289
5
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2 answers
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 "real" world, then it is not a brain in a vat.
On…
user2411
5
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1 answer
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 Descartes believes in God, your beliefs are irrelevant…
Tyler
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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 me with more questions than clarifications, mainly…
AleksandrH
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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
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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, to contribute more, to run faster and faster to…
EconBoy
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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, memories of what I did in the dream were still there, and…
Greg McNulty
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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 tradition as:
You cannot know whether you are…
Vivekanand P V
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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 butterfly dreaming of being a man.
So anyway I…
user6917
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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 independent selves and universe through Occam razor.…
tejasvi88
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How does Socrates's acting on a dream in Plato's Phaedo square with his rationality?
Socrates is a symbol of rational thinking. He called himself a lover of wisdom. But, on the other hand, he started to make music (poetry/composing) just on the direction of a voice that he heard in his dream. Do you think this act has rational…
Rahman
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Why does the dream argument posit that the senses are untrustworthy when it's the mind that is being tricked?
According to the wiki of the dream argument, "the act of dreaming provides preliminary evidence that the senses we trust to distinguish reality from illusion should not be fully trusted, and therefore, any state that is dependent on our senses…
user3776022
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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
person keeps gathering all that frenetically until…
user22051