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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper looks at Norman Malcolm's argument that opposes Descartes' first meditation which is also known as the dreaming argument. Both sides are discussed. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA324Des.rtf
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is either awake or asleep. How can one know if they are in fact awake, if in a dream they do not know if they are dreaming until later on
anyway? In other words, because at some point in the dream, one cannot tell dreaming from wakefulness, then it is possible at any given moment that one is dreaming. He
confirms this notion with the second statement that says that because there are no ways to tell whether or not one is awake, then one does not know that he
is not dreaming and of course this is true. Finally, it is stated that if the first two premises are true, then an individual does not know that he is
not dreaming. Using deductive reasoning, one would have to agree that the argument is valid. The argument is not necessarily sound though because people do know that they are
not dreaming. The meditation implies that a waking person might be sleeping. Yet, most people can differentiate their waking and sleeping states. In fact, while Descartes makes a plausible argument,
there are some who differ. Quite notably, Norman Malcolm in an essay called "Dreaming and Skepticism" rails against Descartes assumptions. Malcolm instead contends that if one is thinking,
making decisions and so forth, he or she is obviously awake. Malcolm takes on Descartes by defining what it is like to be fast asleep or half asleep and
clearly explains what it is like in these different states. He eventually argues that if an individual is in a state of consciousness, then he is not really sleeping
anyway. Malcolm tears apart the argument that one can have the same thoughts and ideas while asleep that one has when awake. To Malcolm, they are two different things. To
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