Is it possible that you are (a.) dreaming right now, (b.) being deceived by an evil demon?

The dream argument was first introduced into western philosophy by Rene Descartes in his Meditations on First Philosophy. In the first of these Mediations Descartes, trying to find grounds for universal doubt, introduces the idea that we cannot distinguish weather the e periences we are ma!ing at the moment are real or only being dreamt. "e goes even further in proposing that it would be possible for us to be constantly deceived by an evil demon or some form of evil omnipotent creature, !eeping us in a constant dream#li!e state. In this paper I will argue against the s!eptical idea that we could be dreaming at any time or even that we could be constantly deceived by an evil demon, by showing that that dreams and reality differ in too many ways to be confused. Firstly our perception is too different in reality to what it is when we are dreaming. $nd secondly, the flow of time and the chains of events that are present in real life are too comple to be dreamed. I will further argue against the %vil Demon $rgument by ta!ing a &ogical Positivist position, deeming it meaningless. 'enerally Descartes Dream $rgument goes as follows. (hile awa!e I often perceive things in e actly the same way I do when I dream. There are no sure means of distinguishing a dreaming e perience from a wa!ing e perience. "ence it is possible for me to be dreaming in this very moment and for all my perceptions to be false.) The first point in this line of thought I want to argue against is the second premise, which states that there are no means of distinguishing between a wa!ing and a dreaming e perience. In my opinion there are several ways in which a dream can be distinguished from reality. One factor in which a dream will usually differ from reality is in how we perceive things in a dream. Our vision might be a bit blurry, and even our other senses might be subject to alteration. I might for example stand in front of a dog, see him bark without actually hearing him bark. Another factor that is usually different in a dream is perspective. I might see myself through the eyes of another person, or from above, which is impossible in real life. And also, time is usually completely out of order in dreams. Events will occur randomly, out of context. I might be at a different location within seconds, without having moved or age from one second to the other. I hence think that dream experiences are not ualitatively indistinguishable form waking experiences. !his is also something the philosopher "ohn Austin remarks in his
) R. Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, in *Descartes +elected Philosophical (ritings*, ,ambridge -niversity press
.)//01, p.22

#ense and #ensiblia. $e says that some waking experiences have something about them, a %dream&like' uality, and some writers and artists try to impart this uality into their works. Austin concludes that if dreams were not different to waking experiences, then %every waking experience would be like a dream and the dream&like uality would not be difficult to capture, but impossible to avoid.'
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And even the emotions we experience while dreaming differ from the ones we experience while being awake. Experiencing pain in a dream for example is very different from experiencing pain in real life. As "ohn )ocke, in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding states %I believe he *someone like +escartes, will allow a very manifest difference between dreaming of being in the -ire, and being actually in it.'. !his very manifest difference, )ocke refers to, is the main difference between dreamt and real experiences, and that is that dreamt experiences were created by internal stimuli, in my own brain, whereas real life experiences were created by external stimuli. $ence dreamt experiences we created by my brain, whereas real life experiences are only processed by my brain. And I believe that these experiences originating in the brain will never be exactly the same as the ones originating from external stimuli. Even when experiencing for example fear in a dream one must accept that this is different to a real life experience. It compares to watching a horror movie. Even though I might feel pain and anxiety I still know that I am not in any real danger. Only because the film might seem very imaginable, real and exciting this does not mean that one forgets that he is watching a movie and is in no real danger.
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$owever, although I have never personally experienced this, and despite everything pointed out above, I have to admit that a proportion of people seem to experience dreams that are extremely similar to real life, making them unable to distinguish the dreamt experience and the real life experience. "ust
3 4. &. $ustin, Sense and Sensibilia, 5 ford -niversity Press .)/631, p. 7/ 8 ". )ocke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, ed. 0eter 1idditch, Oxford2 3larendon 456789, I:

.ii.5/. (. +. 9oardman, *Dreams, Dramas and Scepticism*, The Philosophical :uarterly .)/2/1;ol. 3/, <o. ))6 p. 336

as +escartes;s <editator they claim to have thought the exact same things and made the exact same experiences when they were dreaming as when they were awake. =ut even in this case, one can argue that we can distinguish between a dream and real life in retrospect, because of the context in which dreams happen. I only dream when I sleep, which will usually happen in a bed. !hus when going to bed in the evening, I know that once i fall asleep, all experiences I will make will be dream experiences. $ence, once I wake up I know that all the experiences I made between the second I fell asleep and the moment of getting up were not real, but only imagined. !hat means, since I clearly remember getting up an hour ago, and going to bed last night I !now that I am not dreaming right now. A critic might argue though that I could theoretically be dreaming that I went to bed last night and got up today. !his however does not seem convincing. Our lives, follow a certain narrative. Events happen, which lead to other events happening, which in turn again lead to different events happening. In a way our lives in reality follow a certain path, a chain of events. +reams however do not have this characteristic. !hey do not follow a narrative. Events when dreaming can as already said occur randomly and out of context, whereas everything in reality always has some context, and something leading up to the experiences or events taking place. And since I know that getting up this morning is part of a long chain of events and circumstances, such as feeling tired because of all the things i did the day before, and because these chains of events are so clear and lined up, I know that I am not dreaming right now. !he only position that in my view can be brought up against this, is an argument which +escartes also presents in his -irst <editations, the evil demon argument. +escartes argues that the possibility exists that we are being constantly deceived by an evil omnipotent creature or god. !his is essentially the same as saying that we are constantly dreaming, at all times, rather than dreaming at certain times and being unable to distinguish these occasions from reality. $ence our dreams are only dreams within a bigger dream or illusion that we perceive as reality. And even though I believe that this is extremely unlikely I still can not find an appropriate argument against it, as this is, in my

eyes, a real possibility that cant be disproven and should be taken into account. $owever this argument, even if we would consider it true, will not change anything for us. 0eople will still live their lives and try to enjoy it as much as they can, even if they know it is just a big illusion. And considering how unlikely this seems I think the only appropriate response to this argument is that of a logical positivist, who would deem it meaningless. $ence I believe that it is not possible for me to be dreaming at any one moment, without being aware of it. Our experiences in real life differ from the experiences we make while dreaming in so many aspects, that i do not think they can be confused. Our entire perception is different during a dream, even emotions are not the same. <ost importantly, all of our experiences in real life are part of an extremely extensive chain of events that lead up to each and every one experience, effectively connecting our entire lives. !hese chains of events do not exist while were dreaming. And even the Evil +emon Argument proposed by +escartes, suggesting that we might be dreaming all the time, seems meaningless by the rules of logical positivism.

Bibliography
". ). Austin, Sense and Sensibilia 456>(9 J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding 456789 R. Descartes, Meditations on irst !"iloso#"y 4566?9 $. S. %oardman, Dreams, Dramas and Sce#ticism 456769