ABSTRACT

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.

chapter One|4 pages

Introduction

chapter Two|3 pages

Asserting that One is Asleep

chapter Three|7 pages

Judging that One is Asleep

chapter Five|3 pages

Two Objections

chapter Six|5 pages

The Criteria of Sleep

chapter Seven|2 pages

Phenomena Resembling Sleep

chapter Eight|6 pages

Sound Asleep

chapter Nine|10 pages

Judgments in Sleep

chapter Ten|4 pages

Application to Other Mental Phenomena

chapter Eleven|5 pages

Dreaming as an Exception

chapter Twelve|16 pages

The Concept of Dreaming

chapter Thirteen|13 pages

Temporal Location and Duration of Dreams

chapter Fourteen|8 pages

A Queer Phenomenon

chapter Fifteen|10 pages

Continuity Between Dreams and Waking Life

chapter Sixteen|7 pages

Dreams and Scepticism

chapter Seventeen|6 pages

The Principle of Coherence

chapter Eighteen|7 pages

Do I Know I am Awake?