Dreaming

by Norman Malcolm

Originally published in 1959, with some corrections in 1962, the author examines the common view at the time that dreams are mental activities or mental occurrences taking place during sleep. He starts off by offering a proof that the sentence ‘I am asleep’ is a senseless form of words and cannot express a judgment. After commenting on various features of the concept of sleep, the author expands his argument to prove that the notion of making any judgment at all while asleep is without sense. He takes the further step of showing that this same conclusion holds for all other mental acts and mental occurrences, with the exception of dreams.

Genres: Philosophy

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The teaser on the inside of the dust jacket begins: "Dreaming is supposed to be some kind of mental phenomenon occuring during sleep. So primitive is this assumption that hardly any plain man, philosopher or psychologist will be found to question it. It is contested, however, by the author of this book." A friend of mine read this and said she didn't want to read anymore. How can that be?

[Markku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important, but sort of irritating book. This is like three articles expanded into a monograph. Too much repetition and some empty stuff. The basic Wittgensteinian argument about requirement of dreams being able to communicate to other persons is clever, but very much counter-intuitive. Still, essential for anyone interested in philosophy of dreaming.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Very interesting.