How do you know you're not dreaming right now?

[32k]

Challenge: Being that it is possible (or at least conceivable) that you could just be dreaming right now. How would you prove to yourself that you are not?

 

[heirmiles]

When I was a lot younger I would always wake up when I dreamt I was falling from a great height just before I hit the ground. However I am not at a point where I'm willing to test that theory

 

[Eudaimonist]

Challenge: Being that it is possible (or at least conceivable) that you could just be dreaming right now. How would you prove to yourself that you are not?

The quality of my dreams is very different than the quality of conscious experience. I know that I'm not dreaming because I know what it is like for me to dream.

That said, I once had a dream in which I said to myself that I was certain I wasn't dreaming. However, this fiction is only a problem for me when I am dreaming. When I am awake, I am certain that I am awake. If I make a mistake while I am dreaming, this isn't any philosophical problem for me, because it would only be a problem while I'm awake.

Personally, I think that this sort of epistemological skepticism is a complete dead end in philosophy. The real action is when one accepts what life experience makes self-evident, which is that we are human beings living human lives, and then go from there.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[elephunky]

Challenge: Being that it is possible (or at least conceivable) that you could just be dreaming right now. How would you prove to yourself that you are not?

With the same methods you would use in relation to lucid dreaming I guess.

And as someone has said before, the experience of dreaming and real life experience is massively different.

You could punch a wall, bite your hand, try to fly (lol)

 

[Gottservant]

I dream later, therefore I am awake now.

 

[KCfromNC]

Challenge: Being that it is possible (or at least conceivable) that you could just be dreaming right now. How would you prove to yourself that you are not?

Proof is impossible outside of mathematics. What exactly are you asking for?

 

[Paradoxum]

I think we can be sure we are awake when we are awake. The feeling of real experience is different from the feeling of being in a dream. For example, I can read this (and I don't think you can read in a dream) and I can hear sounds and peoples voices (which I don't think I do in dreams).

But it could be possible that you are in mental world which doesn't come from interaction with an outside world.

 

[Ken-1122]

Challenge: Being that it is possible (or at least conceivable) that you could just be dreaming right now. How would you prove to yourself that you are not?

In my dreams I and those I enteract with constantly do thingsthat are outside the laws of nature and nobody notices. Example I might be on a bike being chased by a little dog, then the dog might turn into a cop and my bike turns into a car and I am being chased by the cops and the chase continues.

ken

 

[elephunky]

In my dreams I and those I enteract with constantly do thingsthat are outside the laws of nature and nobody notices. Example I might be on a bike being chased by a little dog, then the dog might turn into a cop and my bike turns into a car and I am being chased by the cops and the chase continues.

ken

So I am guessing that if I am driving a car that has only a drivers side and Im being chased by a Trex...I am actually dreaming? I dunno man hard to tell

 

[Ken-1122]

So I am guessing that if I am driving a car that has only a drivers side and Im being chased by a Trex...I am actually dreaming? I dunno man hard to tell

I have no idea what you are talking about. I’ve never heard of a car with only a “driver’s side” and I have no idea what a trex is. However I was just giving an example of things happening outside the laws of nature in my dreams; I have no idea what happens in yours. If I had any doubt of whether I am dreaming or not, I could simply attempt to do something I know is impossible like attempting to leap 100 feet in the air. If I fail I will know I am not dreaming.

Ken

 

[Redac]

I can wake myself from dreams by squeezing my eyes shut and then opening them again. It isn't working as I try it now.

QED. (I sure hope I used that right)

 

[AlexBP]

The quality of my dreams is very different than the quality of conscious experience. I know that I'm not dreaming because I know what it is like for me to dream.

I think we can be sure we are awake when we are awake. The feeling of real experience is different from the feeling of being in a dream.

Let me be the devil's advocate. Both of you offer the explanation that your dreams have certain qualities (call these X) while your experience of waking life has a different set of qualities (call these Y). Yet it's theoretically possible that you could have a dream that has qualities matching Y rather than X. It's like the "black swan" thing; all swans were white, until somebody encountered a black swan. Likewise, it could be that all of your dreams were X until you had a first dream that was Y. If you used the X vs. Y scheme to distinguish between dreams and waking life, then you'd be mislead into believing that you were awake when you were actually dreaming.

 

[grasping the after wind]

I have absolutely no doubt that I am dreaming right now because only what I say is making any sense and all those around me and all previous posters are just talking or writing gibberish .

 

[quatona]

Challenge: Being that it is possible (or at least conceivable) that you could just be dreaming right now. How would you prove to yourself that you are not?

Why would that be important to know?

 

[elephunky]

I know I am not dreaming because I am getting ready for work. I never dream about the mundane boring stuff...my dreams are always filled with weird disturbing whackyness!

 

[keith99]

I know I am not dreaming because I am getting ready for work. I never dream about the mundane boring stuff...my dreams are always filled with weird disturbing whackyness!

That is just because the dream has barely started. Wait until you get to work and find you are the only one dressed.

 

[keith99]

As to the original question, I cannot think of a way to be sure. I have vague memories of dreams that seemed quite real.

I do not recall dreams where I had memories of my youth or last years football results however.

But how can I be sure that this, my reality isn't just the real dreamlevel and all that I here call dreams are dreams withing dreams and that when I awake from this dream that holds other dreams might I not be sure that now is a dream?

 

[elephunky]

That is just because the dream has barely started. Wait until you get to work and find you are the only one dressed.

Lol my dreams are whackier than that!

 

[Paradoxum]

Let me be the devil's advocate. Both of you offer the explanation that your dreams have certain qualities (call these X) while your experience of waking life has a different set of qualities (call these Y). Yet it's theoretically possible that you could have a dream that has qualities matching Y rather than X. It's like the "black swan" thing; all swans were white, until somebody encountered a black swan. Likewise, it could be that all of your dreams were X until you had a first dream that was Y. If you used the X vs. Y scheme to distinguish between dreams and waking life, then you'd be mislead into believing that you were awake when you were actually dreaming.

Strong illusions could be possible, but I think we call them something different, other than dreams if they were as vivid and logical as the real world.

 

[Gadarene]

Because I'm posting on CF.

If I ever dream about posting on CF, kill me.