Descartes Dreaming Argument

In “Bad Dreams, Evil Demons, and the Experience Machine: Philosophy and The Matrix”, Christopher Grau analyzes Rene Descartes argument concerning reality. The argument starts on page 181 in the bottom left hand corner of the page and continues onto page 182, ending at the bottom right corner of the page. In this text, Grau explains Descartes argument that what one may interpret as reality may not be more than a figment of their imagination and then uses it to develop his own argument. Grau explains that you cannot know whether you are in the dream world or the real world, and therefore argues that we cannot be sure that our beliefs about the world are true.

In “Bad Dreams, Evil Demons, and the Experience Machine: Philosophy and the Matrix”, Christopher Grau explains Rene Descartes argument in Meditation. What one may interpret as reality may not be more than a figment of one’s imagination. One argument that Grau points out in Descartes essay is how one knows that what one think is an everyday experience awake is not all a part of a hallucination. He uses the example of dreams to draw a conclusion about is claim based on experiences one would experience with dreaming. He asserts that there are times when one wake up from a dream that seems to be “vivid and realistic” however soon finds that it was not. The experience of reality in the dream was all a part of the mind. If dreams seem to be

Descartes first presents this idea with the statement "How often does my evening slumber persuade me of such ordinary things as these: that I am here, clothed in my dressing gown, seated next to the fireplace -- when in fact I am lying undressed in bed!" (Descartes 490). By using an experience of his own, Descartes shows how dreams can be asymptotic to reality. Descartes implies that he often sits next to his fireplace, clothed in his dressing gown, so his dream that he is doing so is very believable. In conclusion, one cannot distinguish between a dream and reality because the gradient between them is so finitely small at times.

Descartes’ Dreaming Argument comes from his thinking that there is no way of knowing if you are sleeping or if you are awake. To know something is to have no doubt of a fact, it must be a justified true belief. To be justified it must hold logical reason, you cannot state something is true without evidence. In order for it to be true it is not enough to justify it, but it must be justified with true facts. Finally, you must believe it, in order to know something it must be true in your mind. As a result Descartes doubts his consciousness as he cannot truly know that he is awake. This spurs Descartes to question if any perceived knowledge of reality is really true. Descartes calls his senses into questions as he notes, “it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once” and therefore concludes that as a result it is prudent, never to trust his sense. In

     The second argument that Descartes defends is another question posed towards the senses. How can we take anything as real if our dreams cannot be

How do we know we are not dreaming some particular experience we are having, or we are not dreaming all our experience of this world? When we dream we imagine things happening often with the same sense of reality as we do when we are awake. In Descartes dream argument, he states there are no reliable signs distinguishing sleeping from waking. In his dream argument, he is not saying we are merely dreaming all of what we experience, nor, is he saying we can distinguish dreaming from being awake. I think his point is we cannot be for sure what we experience as being real in this world is actually real.

In this essay, I will explore and analyse Descartes’ dreaming argument and his evil demon argument. I will assess both arguments taking into account their validity and soundness whilst also considering the objections that one may have.

This is also means that I do not think his argument is sound. An argument is “sound if and only if it is both valid, and all of its premises are actually true” (Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Anonymous 2017). This means that the dreaming argument is not a passable philosophical theory because it is not sound- however, philosophy is based on individual’s perspective which means that some people may find the dreaming argument valid and sound and therefore a good philosophical theory.

The dreaming argument was based upon the idea that both waking and sleeping (dreaming) experiences can be very similar, and that distinguishing between the two may not be possible. This led to Descartes doubting that waking experiences are actually infact waking experiences and not dreams. Descartes developed this argument and claimed that in order to be certain of any experiences, we have to be certain that we are not dreaming. However, Descartes continued and

Many different interpretations of Descartes’ dream argument could derive from his theory. In lecture we interpreted Descartes’ Dream Argument as follows:

One of Rene Descartes’s most famous arguments, from his not only from his first meditation but all of the meditations, is his Dream Argument. Descartes believes that there is no way to be able to distinguish being in awake from being in a state of dreaming. In fact you could actually be in a dream right now. Rene Descartes’s theory that one is unable distinguish being awake from dreaming, as interesting as it is, can be at times a little farfetched, along with a few contradictions to himself, Descartes’s dream argument does not entitle himself to any sort of claim.

His justification of his dream arguments is structurally sound, and it is not refuted in a similarly strong manner. He begins by saying “I see so plainly that there are no definitive signs by which to distinguish being awake from being asleep” (105). He explains that his perceptions of reality are accessible in his dreams, despite his dreams being nonexistent. He can see images that are not there, he can feel things that are not there, and he can experience things that are not happening. His perceptions deceive him in his dreams, and he has no way of truly telling the difference between true perception and false perception, as proven by his inability to tell the difference between dreams and reality. “Let us assume then, … that we are dreaming and that such particulars as these are not true: that we are not opening our eyes, moving our head and extending our hands…Nevertheless, it surely must be admitted that the things seen during slumber are, as it were, like painted images,” (105). By supplying the dream argument, he gives doubt to his perception, which is enough to formulate his first meditation: “I will remain resolute and steadfast in this meditation, and even if it is not within my power to know anything true, it certainly is within my power to take care resolutely to withhold my assent to what is false, les this deceiver, however powerful, however clever he may be, have any effect on me” (107). However, he seems to forget the

Meaning, we could be constantly dreaming and not be aware of it. He uses this line of reasoning to support his claim that sense and perception can not be trusted and that nothing is certain. Descartes mentions being able to have perceptions similar to the sensations he has while dreaming. Therefore there are no definitive signs of to discern between dream experience and wake experience. Which makes it possible for him to claim that he may be dreaming at that very moment, even though he may think he is meditating or writing, it is all a sensory and perceptive illusion. Backing his statement with the concept of doubt and skepticism, he is able to fully explain why one can not tell whether they are awake of dreaming. Consequently, we must carefully test and examine our senses to determine if they represent

The Dreaming argument first showed up in Descartes First Meditation, where he focusses on the task to educate himself on his own doubt. When meditating he starts to think about how he has a hard time distinguishing himself from being asleep and awaking. This is how the dreaming argument came forth. The Dreaming Argument easily said is “If I am certain of anything, then I have to be certain that

    The Dream Argument states that because we are unable to eliminate the possibility that we are dreaming our perceived reality, we cannot know anything about it. Formally, we can express this as: