Does a dream "happen"?

Question

Is a dream an event? When we speak about a witness account of an event, we presume the event is one thing at the witnessing another. But the witnessing of a dream IS the dream. This occured to me way back when I was watching the OJ Simpson trial and one of his dreams was being discussed. Can something be said to have happened if there was only one witness to it and no possible verification outside that?

Diana P, it was not so much the dream being discussed as OJ's report of it to somebody, prior to the killings. But it got me thinking about the ontological status of dreams.

The witnessing of a dream IS the dream because the perception does not correspond to something outside the perception. The dream is the very perception.

Answer 1

A dream is indeed an event, but only of particular electrochemical (or some other process) patterns within an "experience processor" like a human brain.

A brain takes sensory input and "processes" that into memory, subjective experience, and behavior. A dream is a similar process, but mostly (or at least partially) disconnected from sensory input and behavioral output. You might say that a dream is symbolic subjective experience based only on memory. As such, it has no legal standing, although many people seem convinced that dreams are somehow "real."

You say that "witnessing of a dream IS the dream," and I'm unclear exactly what you mean by that. But if what you mean is that it's possible to participate in someone else's dream, then I'd have to answer, No. Subjective experience is, by definition, an activity that can only be had by a single "experiencer." You cannot witness another person's dream, unless the other person presents it to you for subjective experience (as with a book they write or a movie they direct). That's about as close as you can come to experiencing someone else's experience, although our species seems dead set on creating the most convincing illusions of experience!

Answer 2

an event is a factual, happening hardcore event that we are aware of on all spheres. By spheres i mean it can be mentally, physically and emotionally demanding. A dream may be able to act upon our senses, e.g from a nightmare or one touching an emotional subject, can still wake up with the same thoughts and feelings in mind during the day.However, we have not actually PHYSICALLY interacted with something to make it an event.
Some religions (i.e Muslim) actually believe that in dreams that is the place where out souls meet. But such a belief is of course,each to our own, and still we cannot give it enough factor of 'physical being or happening'.
A dream in other explained terms, such as that by Freud is us playing out our sub consciousness, our hidden inhibitions. or everyday repressors that are then released when the mind relaxes and goes into R.E.M (Rapid Eye Movement).
To state a dream happening as an actual factual, physical event would be the same principal as being able to state a daydream the same.
The closest a dream gets to the term "event" is mentally, and when lucid dreaming takes shape.

Answer 3

I think a dream is an event, even though it takes place on an ephemeral, non-physical plane.

But in a court of law, I can't see a dream as being accepted as evidence. Was his dream being discussed as part of the court proceedings as evidence? I don't know law, but that's silly. It's like accepting a thought as evidence.

Answer 4

A dream is an event, but an unreal event, unlike a real event which was when OJ murdered.

Answer 5

Do you doubt that it happened to you? The dream is not the witnessing of it. We often have dreams we do not remember--many many more. Sometimes I say to myself, "I am having a dream about this--Wow!" then I go on with the dream.
THAT is witnessing the dream, and to doubt that my powers of cognition do not know when I have a cognition, then I will be an unconscious vegetable.

Answer 6

Dreams are just dreams, not events. Although people have had dreams that became events at a later date.

Answer 7

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