Dream, Death, and the Self

by J.J. Valberg

"Might this be a dream?" In this book, distinguished philosopher J. J. Valberg approaches the familiar question about dream and reality by seeking to identify its subject what is it that would be the dream if "this" were a dream? It turns out to be a subject matter that contains the whole of the world, space, and time but which, like consciousness for Sartre, is nothing "in itself." This subject matter, the "personal horizon," lies at the heart of the main topics--the first person, the self, and the self in time--explored at length in the book.


The personal horizon is, Valberg contends, the subject matter whose center each of us occupies, and which for each of us ceases with death. This ceasing to be presents itself solipsistically not just as the end of everything "for me" but as the end of everything absolutely. Yet since it is the same for everyone, this cannot be. Death thus confronts us with an impossible something that cannot be but will be.


The puzzle about death is one of several extraphilosophical puzzles about the self that Valberg discusses, puzzles that can trouble everyday consciousness without any contribution from philosophy. Nor can philosophy resolve the puzzles. Its task is to get to the bottom of them, and in this respect to understand ourselves--a task philosophy has always set itself.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Death

520 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2007

Reviews

[Sam Eccleston]

I have to say I didn’t finish this- I simply lost interest eat. Rigorously argued and clearly written, it perhaps inevitably displays the characteristic vice of analytical philosophy; the tendency to drown a core of profundity and relevance in an ocean of anticipation, clarification, and definition. The inundation of trivia robs the undoubtedly important subject matter of its impact- one cannot help feeling that a very short summary would land better.

Frankly, while in a sense important clarity was discovered- it was nevertheless clarity about puzzlement, and there is something underwhelming about this. Perhaps the Wittgensteinian underpinnings of the book make this inevitable, but the abiding impression was of an enormous amount of work, much of it somewhat tedious, for little reward.

[Isabella]

An original discussion of, and weaving together of, the title themes, slowly drawing out the inevitable yet 'impossible' facts of the human predicament.