Skip to main content

Reconstructing the Dream Argument

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

Reconstructing the dream argument: applying the standard-form procedure to Descartes' skeptical reasoning, then evaluating it by the deductive standard.

Show

The passage, from Meditation One: dreams have deceived me with experiences indistinguishable from waking, and there are no sure marks separating the two states.

Watch for

Attack a premise, not the philosopher. A valid argument concedes nothing until a premise falls.