For many centuries the phenomenon of dreams has been used as an evidence for great limitations of the human mind. Dream argument is one of the oldest arguments concerning philosophy of mind; numerous thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Zhuangzi and Descartes noticed that it might be difficult to distinguish between “real reality” and “dream reality”. Is reality a dream? If not, how can you know it is not?
I like the story written by Zhuangzi, a Chinese philosopher. Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly. He was conscious only of this wonderful feeling while he was fluttering hither and thither. I am sure you too can think of a dream when you felt very good and at the time of dreaming were absolutely sure it was not a dream at all. When Zhuangzi awaked, he started to analyse what he had just experienced. “Am I a man dreaming that I am a butterfly or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?”. Zhuangzi was unable to answer the question. Are we unable too?
