Phil of dreams final

How many stages of sleep are described in our textbook?

4

What is a percept?

A sensory experience.

Who tells Socrates that he should practice art/music?

A voice in a dream

What was the name of J. Allan Hobson theory, which rejected the Freudian interpretation of dreams? hint - brain-stem attempts to randomly sends signals to the mid-brain.

Activation-synthesis

Why does Aristotle claim that dreams are not prophetic?

All of these reasons. Dreams often don't come true. Lower animals dream. Common people dream.

Why does Aristotle claim that we should be skeptical of prophecy in dreams?

All of these reasons. Lower animals dream. Common people dream. Dreams often do not come true.

Dan Dennett's reasons for challenging the received view of dreams

Anecdotal dreams where the composition of the dream is affected by an external stimuli; these seem to be precognitive•Dennett says he has an involved dream where he is searching for his neighbor's goat•When he finds the goat, it bleats and the sound merges perfectly to an alarm he has not used in a long time•Dreams can have a series of events that logically lead to and anticipate a "climax" that is caused by something in the outside world•The terminal events are strongly prepared for by the dream narrative •How could we have "knowledge" of this future event?

Which Greek god does Nietzsche compare to dreams?

Apollo

In Buddhism, what is the term for the intermediate state between death and rebirth, and the state in between sleeping and waking?

Bardo

What is the Buddhist term that means "in between" or "intermediate"?

Bardo

Why does Descartes ultimately conclude that he is not in a dream, and there is an external world.

Because God exists, and God would not deceive him about these matters.

Why does Socrates claim he is looking forward to death?

Because he thinks he can achieve pure knowledge when the body perishes.

Difference between belief and imagining

Beliefs - accepting something as true or being confident that something exists Imaginative states simulate non-imaginative states Imaginings - belief-like states toward the content of our dreamsDream belief: Holding the kitten will attract my celebrity crushIchikawa says he imagines this rather than believes it

What type of beliefs does Descartes doubt via the evil deceiver/genius argument?

Beliefs about math and geometry.

What sorts of beliefs does Descartes doubt via the dream argument?

Beliefs derived from the senses, such as his body and the external world.

What type of beliefs does Descartes' dream argument call into question?

Beliefs derived from the senses.

What term does Carl Jung use to describe the part of the unconscious mind that is derived from ancestral memory and experience and is common to all humankind, as distinct from the individual's personal unconscious?

Collective Unconscious

Which process of "dream work" takes several ideas and condenses them into one single figure?

Condensation

What did Steven LeBerge do?

Conducted dream experiments with lucid dreamers.

Who is the protagonist in a vicarious dream? Two possibilities proposed by Sutton and Rosen.

Databases of dream reports include instances of people dreaming they are Napoleon on the battlefield, women dreaming they are men, and dreaming that they are a photocopier!•Who do the experiences belong to in these types of dreams? Who exactly is the protagonist?•Two Possibilities:•Despite appearances, the protagonist is still the dreamer •Napoleon is neither Napoleon nor the dreamer but rather a "dream Napoleon" •We have a "dream self" that is distinct from our waking self (Locke) with varying levels of connectedness between the dreamer and the dream protagonist •Note: a vicarious dream differs from "imagining you are someone else" because there is only one perspective in a vicarious dream (and sometimes there are false memories)•Third answer?•The dream protagonist is not a subject of experience at all

What is St. Augustine's dilemma, from our reading from his work Confessions?

Does he need to ask God's forgiveness for having sexual dreams?

Which of the following best describes Julia Driver's view on dream morality?

Dream content cannot be morally evaluated as long as there is not systematic connection to real life, but the desire to do something immoral should be examined.

What is the name of the ritual, found in virtually all ancient cultures, where a person sleeps in a sacred area in order to induce a divine dream?

Dream incubation

What is dream incubation, and why was Asclepius important to the ancient Greeks?

Dream incubation is a practiced used in many ancient cultures where a person will sleep in a sacred place and typically preform ritual acts to receive a Devine message through their dreams. Asclepius was an ancient healer that received medical training making him cure a lot of people and even bring people back from the dead. He became famous in Greece and Rome and shrines of him were used in dream incubations in hopes of receiving messages from him to heal the sick.

Positivists view on dreams

Dream reports are unverifiable•We can't accept the metaphysical claim that dreaming consciously takes place during sleep•After waking, we use introspection to examine memories, but these memories are not the dreams themselves•We may report on an apparent memory, but there is no way to verify that a conscious experience actually took place while asleep •The only way to "verify" a dream report is memory, but memories can be bad or even false

Objections to the Imagination Model

Dreaming is involuntary and imagination isn't 1: Beliefs and sensations are not under our control 2: Imaginings and images are always under our control (subject to the will) 3: Dream experiences are not imagery and imaginings The argument is valid but Ichikawa attacks the second premise He talks about an annoying song being stuck in your head; you may will to banish it, but you do not have full voluntary control over it His second reason for dreams being subject to the will is lucid dreaming Imagination Model of Dreams conflicts with our introspective experienceFeels like we have false beliefs and percepts when we sleepIchikawa feels that people just casually reflect on dreams, and because the difference between images and precepts is so subtle, the imagination model is just not typically considered

What is the received view of dreams?

Dreams are experiences that take place while we sleep and can sometimes be recalled when we wake.

What is St. Augustine's conclusion about dream morality?

Dreams are happenings rather than actions, and he is not morally responsible for dream content.

What does St. Augustine conclude about whether or not we can be sin in our dreams?

Dreams are happenings rather than actions, and we are not morally responsible for them.

Which of the following bests describes Flanagan's view of dreams?

Dreams are noise; epiphenomenal

In Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human, what does he say about dreams?

Dreams connect us to the memory and mindset of prehistoric humans.

Which of the following bests describes Nietzsche's view on dreams?

Dreams connect us to the prehistoric mindset of our ancestors.

Points in favor of Ichikawa's Imagination Model

Dreams don't wake us up A phone call would wake us up with the causal power of an auditory percept...shouldn't we expect loud noises in dreams to wake us, if they are the same experiences as percepts?Dreaming Among Children Appears to Emerge Along with Imaginative CapacitiesDream psychologist David Foulkes says that contrary to widespread beliefs, children under age five dream less frequently and less actively than adults

Why does Flanagan think that dream content might be subject to moral evaluation?

Dreams may reveal aspects of our character that we wish to modify. Correct! All of these reasons. Dreams are sometimes voluntary; they involve agency. Mental content is not immune from moral scrutiny.

What does Dennett mean by "anecdotal" or "precognitive" dreams?

Dreams that follow a narrative that end with a terminal event which matches up with a real-life occurence.

Driver's view of dream morality - externalist vs internalist

Driver frames the debate within the context of evaluative externalists vs internalist•Externalists - Mainly consequentialists. Those that look to the effects on the external world, when evaluating moral qualities.•Internalists - Mainly virtue ethicists and elements of deontology. Those that maintain that the moral quality of an action or character trait is determined by factors internal to agency (intentions, motives, willings) etc. Psychological state is more important than effects. Driver concludes that without intentions or a desire to do the bad act and without a 'systematic' connection to the real-life actions, dream immorality is not a problem

What type of metaphysics does Descartes use?

Dualism

Descartes' Dream Argument (be able to summarize it and explain what beliefs it causes him to doubt)

First argument for hyperbolic doubtHow can you doubt the experience of being in this room?Accustomed to dreaming"Received View" of dreams - experiences that occur during sleep which we can recall upon waking Can't distinguish between being awake or dreamingPlato addressed the same issue in the Theaetetus Our experience could be a dream, so our sense-data cannot be a clear and distinct idea (indubitable belief)Modern Day version of Dream Argument: The Matrix Dream Skepticism - Not being certain about whether we are in a dreamDescartes claims that there are no definite marks between waking and dreaming (many have made similar claims)Seems to assert that any waking state can be replicated in dreamsDreams are another form of perception

What are Flanagan's three main objections to Augustine's conclusion about morality in dreams?

Flanagans three main objections to Augustine's conclusion is that 1. If you are voluntarily sinning in your dream, it is considered immoral. 2. There is a chance there is no mental state that is immune to moral obligation, and 3. Dreams could be a reflection of ones character.

Crick and Mitchison's ideas about function of dreams

Francis Crick and Graeme Mitchison - dreams are meaningless and epiphenomenal, we dream to forget, during REM sleep the brain attempts to rid itself of excessive memories, bizarre connections and "clutter" Memory consolidation theory - contrary to Crick's ideas, this theory points out how we perform tasks better and have improved memory after sleep. Maybe dreams actually help us consolidate and improve our memory of important information

Flanagan's arguments for consciousness and sleep being adaptations

Genetic Fitness is when a gene or trait is advantageous to the organism, increases its chance to survive and reproduceAdaptive biological functions enhance fitnessFunction can also be used in the sense of "design-excellence" not directly related to genetic fitness; talents or gifts that may not specifically increase chances to mate Functional can also be used in a cultural or psychological sense, "Had I not learned to read or write, I would not function very well in the world." (p. 21) Perhaps for "top priority" information, a spotlight for important information could increase chance for survival

Why does John Locke disagree with Descartes' dream skepticism?

He argues that the experience of pain is different in a dream.

Why is Descartes engaged in systematic doubt in his Meditations?

He is looking for a foundation for science and philosophy.

What is Descartes doing in his Meditations?

He is trying to establish a new foundation for the sciences.

Why does Socrates seem to be looking forward to dying?

He thinks he will attain pure knowledge.

In Sheldon Nahmod's article on Plato's Phaedo, what does Nahmod claim that dreams represent?

Ignorance; the ordinary life of the physical body and material world

Plato's Tripartite Soul

In Plato's Republic, he describes the "tripartite soul"• The divisions of the tripartite soul consists of the appetitive, spirited, and rational •The division is also compared to different parts of the ideal state or society Rational (ruling class), Spirited (soldiers), Appetitive (working class)

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of NDEs according to Moody and Ring's research?

Increased fear

Hobson's Activation-Synthesis Theory

J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley reject Freud's view and traditional psychoanalytic models which state that dreams have special meanings that can be "decoded" Activation-synthesis hypothesis - area of the brain stem (pons) randomly stimulates the midbrain, and these "spikes" of activity are synthesized by our higher brain areas. In other words, our cortex tries to make sense of random, erratic, and incoherent brain input, using anything that resembles a coherent memory or experience

If lucid dreaming causes us to view people as a "mere means" rather than an "end-in-themselves", which moral theory would deem the dream activity to be immoral?

Kantian ethics

Which ethical stance states that it is immoral to use rational beings as a "mere means"?

Kantian ethics

What is the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism?

Life is suffering

What is Freud's term for the part of our dreams that we can consciously remember but have no real significance?

Manifest Content

Manifest and Latent Content/Dream

Manifest content is the content of the dream that can be consciously remembered and has no meaning or significance Latent content is the underlying significance, the hidden wishes and fantasies, where gratification has been denied

Which branch of philosophy studies the nature of reality?

Metaphysics

Importance of dreams in ancient cultures and one example of practice, ritual, or belief involving dreams

Most ancient cultures viewed dreams as spiritual or supernatural events•Omens, healing, advice, connection to the dead, messages from gods ANCIENT HEBREW BELIEFS •Importance of dreams is prominent in Old Testament •Solomon was given gift of wisdom in a dream •Prophets were given messages in dreams •Jacob's ladder •Daniel and Joseph interpreted dreams that led to freeing the Jews from bondage •Hebrew revelatory attitude dreams continues into Christian thought, but it is not discussed as much in the New Testament of the Christian Bible or Interpreting dreams is the only way Muslims can receive revelations from God after the death of the Prophet Muhammed •Mohammed himself "received" much of the text of the Koran from a dream, and he interpreted others' dreams •Good dreams are from Allah, bad dreams are from Satan

What causes dreams, according to Aristotle

Movements caused by the stimulation of or sense-organs.

What term is used to describe experience taking place on the brink of death and recounted by a person after recovery, sometimes involving an out-of-body experience?

Near-death experience

Which two Greek gods does Nietzsche compare to dreams and intoxication (make sure you clarify which one belongs to dreams and which one to intoxication)? Besides dreams and intoxication, what are two other attributes that Nietzsche associates with each respective god?

Nietzsche compares both Apollo and Dionyus to dreams and Intoxication. Apollo represents more of the dream aspect because he is the God of sun, arts, and prophecy while Dionyus represents more the Feeling of passion and intoxication. Both are described as harmonious and contribute to unity.

According to Buddhism, what term means "blown out" and represents the ultimate spiritual goal?

Nirvana

What is the Buddhist term for spiritual liberation that literally means 'blown out'?

Nirvana

What is the scientific study of dreams?

Oneirology

Difference between a percept and imagery

Percepts - sensory experiences, in dreams we are misled by them since they are experiences of things that are not really there Beliefs - accepting something as true or being confident that something exists Under the orthodox view, we have false percepts and beliefs when we dream Percepts are experiences (sensory) that we have when engaged with the world around us Imagery - is similar to visual sensations but is a different kind of experience Ichikawa says mental imagery (which may include sensation other than vision) simulates percepts Imagery is similar to percepts...but not identical Daydreams, mental visualization, song stuck in your head, etc. Double vision - the second apple is a percept that does not correspond (exactly) to the physical object, since there is only one apple in the physical world. Double vision is an instance of a percept not an imagery .Imagining an extra apple - You can look at an apple in the physical world and perceive a percept of it. But you can also imagine a second apple that overlaps with the real apple. This imagined apple is not a percept but a product of mental imagery.

Aristotle and many of the ______________________ believed that dreams had a _____________________ explanation.

Pre-socratics; natural

Freud's processes in the dream work: condensation, displacement, considerations of representability (be able to give examples and define the terms)

Processes that mask the latent content of the dream 1. Condensation - several ideas condensed into one, a single figure is really a collection of images•A dream character is a friend but also a relative•A location is simultaneously a new area and a familiar one•Dream image is a combination of animal and human •Displacement - important latent content is concealed by the focus being shifted to a feature that is trivial•Highly emotional reaction to a dream scene that does not seem to warrant the emotion 3. Considerations of Representability (also referred to as Translation or Regressive Translations) - latent thoughts become visual representations or images •Latent thought is "I want to tower above others." Manifest content has you in a skyscraper above others. •Other sensations, beyond sight, could represent the thought•4. Secondary Revision - the final transformation where jumbled pictures are organized and made more coherent, which creates a connected whole or dream façade

What stage of sleep is believed to be where most of our dreaming takes place?

REM

Two features or sequences common in reports of Near Death Experiences (from Moody and Ring's research)

Raymond Moody (philosopher and psychologist)Feelings of peaceThe wiseDark travelOut of bodyMeeting othersBeing of lightThe reviewThe borderTalking to others Kenneth Ring (psychologist)PeaceBody separationEntering the darknesspresenceLife reviewThe lightReturnTalking to others

Norman Malcolm's reasons for challenging the received view of dreams

Sleep implies a lack of consciousness•If consciousness is experiences we have while awake ...•then by definition, dreaming cannot be an experience or state of consciousness•If you say, "I am asleep," while you are asleep, the statement is false (even if you were talking in your sleep, it would just be a coincidence) Any judgment or claim made in a dream would be false, according to Wittgenstein and Malcom

Flanagan's arguments for consciousness and sleep being adaptations Flanagan's argument for dreams being spandrels of sleep

So Flanagan's theory is that dreams serve no biological purposeSleep does serve a purpose but dreams do notThey are side effects, not maladaptive but not fitness enhancingLike the color of our blood, they are side effect that does not hinder or enhance survivalStill, just like spandrels and heartbeats, we have learned other ways of appreciating and using themEven if a mechanical heart was made where a noisy beat could be eliminated, it would not be unheard of to imagine people wanting the sound because we have found so many uses for itLikewise, if a dome or arch could be made without a spandrel, we might still make them and fill them with art

Stephen LaBerge's experiments with lucid dreamers

Stephen LaBerge carried out experiments with lucid dreamers•He asked them to perform such tasks as prearranged eye-movement patterns•The participants did the eye-movements in REM sleep, signaling that they were lucid •This undercuts Malcolm's view that we cannot communicate while asleep, and challenges Dennett's "uploading" theory•LaBerge also asked lucid dreamers to count to ten between eye movements Perhaps Dennett could argue that by the eye movements in LaBerge's study do not prove that the subjects were having conscious experiences while asleep•Maybe the subjects created the "cassette" when they spoke with LaBerge, but they had the memory "uploaded/played" when they awoke •Their brain and eye activity does not prove that they had a conscious experience while asleep

What is the first "clear and distinct" idea that Descartes discovers?

That if he thinks, he must exist.

What is term that the Dalai Lama uses to refer to the subtlest state of mind that can be experienced in dreams and death?

The Clear Light

What is the ultimate object of knowledge/reality according to Plato?

The Forms

Ichikawa supports the view that dreams are not products of sensory experiences and false beliefs with a model that he refers to as:

The Imagination Model

The view that dreams contain misleading sensory experiences and false beliefs is called:

The Orthodox View

In On Dreams, which organ does Aristotle say is responsible for regulating the temperature of blood?

The brain

Criticisms of TST

The theory is too narrow in scopeNot all dreams are threateningHow does TST explain pleasant dreams? Flying dreams, sex, meeting celebrities, visiting new locationsFlashbulb memory Many of the threatening dream themes are modern situations rather than ancestral (e.g., test-taking, driving, etc.)Dream threats are usually not realistic Threat-avoidance often fails in dreamsTraumatic or threatening experiences are remembered more often than the mundaneDo we actually have more threatening dreams than non-threatening, or do we only remember the threatening ones?

Which of the following bests describes Aristotle's view of dreams?

They are like after-images produced by the organs of sense-perception coming to a rest.

Which of the following bests summarizes Freud's view of dreams?

They are repressed wishes.

Using philosophers studied in class, provide two objections to Descartes' claim that we cannot distinguish dreams from reality. (This can include Locke, Hobbes, Sartre, or Flanagan).

Two objections to Decartes' View on life and dreams being indistinguishable are John Locke's view, that we do not feel pain or pleasure in dreams, or even thoughts. Secondly Hobbs suggested that dreams are filled with bizarre scenarios that are not consistent with what is real while we are awake.

Brain Waves associated with stages of sleep (four stages of sleep in neuroscience)

Typically, during wakefulness, EEGs would measure Beta waves -high frequency, low amplitude (peaks), and inconsistent patterns During relaxed peri0ds, we see Alpha waves - slow brain waves with increased amplitude and more synchronous Theta waves - even slower frequency and higher amplitude than alpha waves (stage 1) Theta wave sleep has periodic increases or jumps in frequency and amplitude known as sleep spindles and K complexes (stage 2) Deep sleep occurs during Delta waves - the slowest and highest amplitude brain waves (stage 3 is less than 50% delta waves and stage 4 is more than 50%) REM sleep (rapid eye movement) - unique stage associated with dreaming and loss of muscle tone, typically occurs around 90 minutes after falling asleep •Theta Waves - transition to from waking to sleeping (stage 1)•Sleep Spindles - short periods of increased and rapid brain waves activity, body temperature and heart rate drop (stage 2)•Delta Waves- slow waves, transition from light to deep sleep (stages 3 and 4)•Stages 3 and 2 are repeated before entering REM sleep•REM sleep - increased brain activity, voluntary muscle paralysis, and dreaming

Which moral theory states that an action is right if it leads to a greater balance of good over bad consequences for all involved?

Utilitarianism

What term do Sutton and Rosen use to describe a dream that is not from a first-person perspective or does not feature yourself as the "protagonist" of the dream?

Vicarious dream

Which moral theory is aligned with Aristotle?

Virtue Ethics

Jungian archetypes

We have a personal unconscious and a collective unconscious, and the latter contains inherited archetypes. •Similar to instincts, archetypes are "motifs" passed down or inherited, not coming from personal experience•Archetypes have primal meanings that are given form in dreams, myths, art, etc. The Self - unified consciousness and unconsciousness, individuation (sometimes symbolized as a circle or square •The Shadow - instincts and sex drives, the "darker" or repressed ideas and desires, chaos and unknown (sometimes symbolized as a snake, dragon, or wild creature) •The Anima and Animus - The anima is the female archetype found in men, and the animus is the male archetype in women •Additional archetypes: father, mother, child, birth, death, rebirth

Most common emotion in dreams

anxiety

In Socrates' argument for why he does not fear death, he says that death is either like ___________________________, or it is a movement of the soul.

dreamless sleep

Julia Driver refers those that look to the external world and real-life consequences for moral attributes as:

externalists

Freud's concept of the _____________________ most closely resembles Plato's appetite part of the soul.

id

Which of the following is not one of Sheldon Nahmod's four characteristics of dreams?

lack of emotion

In Phaedo, Socrates' "argument from opposites" states that just as sleeping is the opposite of waking, __________________________, and so the soul cannot perish

life is generated from death

In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates says he has a recurring dream telling him to:

practice or cultivate music/art.

Ancient cultures tended to view dreams as:

prophesies, connection with the divine, healing, etc.

Plato's ideal person and state should be ruled by:

reason/logic

Which of the following claims made by Aristotle is corroborated by contemporary dream research?

"Practically all other animals partake in sleep."

According to philosopher Charles Taylor, the modern western view of the self is torn between two features. What are these features?

self-control and self-exploration

According to Freud, most dream symbols can be traced back to:

sexual origins

Freud did not create the idea of the __________________________________, but he did focus on it more than previous thinkers.

unconscious

John Sutton and Melanie Rosen's Vicarious Dreams

•Vicarious Dreams• Philosophers in Sydney, Australia •Vicarious dreams are dreams where the "protagonist" of the dream is not yourself •Wrote the Paper Self-Representation and Perspectives in Dreams •In rare cases, we are not ourselves in dreams and sometimes we are seeing ourselves from a perspective that is not first-person •The vicarious protagonist can have false memories and be someone that is completely different than yourself •Different time than you live•Different gender•Animals and inanimate objects