The Interpretation of Dreams - Book Report/Review Example

How do Descartes' ideas about dreams and dreaming compare to those of Sigmund Freud Both Ren Descartes and Sigmund Freud wrote extensively about dreams and dreaming: Freud saw them as an essential part of his understanding of the human psyche, even publishing a study called The Interpretation of Dreams; Descartes used the notion of dreaming to mount an argument of scepticism in the Meditations on First Philosophy, though his interest in dreaming as a potentially deceptive experience started in the Discourse on the Method. However, both writers approach dreaming in very different ways, and the conclusions they hope to draw from it are radically different. Descartes sees dreaming as a challenge to all knowledge, while Freud uses it as an attempt to deepen our knowledge. It might seem from this that Freud has a greater respect for the veracity of dreamed experience than Descartes does; however, I believe, and shall argue in this essay, that this is due to a radically different starting point: Descartes is trying to justify the basis of all human knowledge, while Freud is performing a psychological investigation. Finally, I shall attempt to show that there is some agreement between these two writers' ideas about dreams: they both view dreams as a separate experience to our normal consciousness, which can as such give us insight into ourselves. The most obvious distinction between the approach of Freud and that of Descartes to the idea of dreaming is the amount of respect each one seems to have for it. Freud sees the study of dreaming as a means of increasing our understanding and knowledge about the human mind, a subject in fact worthy of a whole book. When analyzing Sophocles' play, Oedipus the King, and the audience's reaction to it, Freud appeals to dreams to help us understand our sympathy for Oedipus: Freud writes, "It was perhaps ordained that we should all of us turn our first sexual impulses towards our mother, our first hatred and violent wishes against our father. Our dreams convince us of it". Here, he shows that he believes that it is possible for dreams to provide convincing evidence in support of a particular hypothesis about the mind: namely that it is an underlying desire of young boys to have sex with their mothers and murder their fathers. Therefore, Freud sees dreams as one of the essential tools in the psychoanalyst's repertoire for understanding the human mind. On the other hand, Descartes writes of dreams as things which deceive our perception of the outside world. For him, 'Reason' is the only thing which we can trust to provide us with a truthful account of matters: "finally, whether we are awake or asleep, we should never allow ourselves to be persuaded excepting by the evidence of our Reason". Dreaming, according to Descartes, is an activity which confuses and obscures our reason, and so makes us doubtful of our empirical knowledge: because our reasonings are never so evident nor so complete during sleep as during wakefulness [] Reason tells us that since our thoughts cannot possibly be all true, because we are not altogether perfect, that which they have of truth must infallibly be met with in our waking experience rather than that of our dreams. This is closely linked to Descartes' religious beliefs: he believes that dreams are less reliable indicators of true fact than waking experiences because we are more closely in touch with God (who would never provide us with untrue information) during our waking experiences than when dreaming. However, this alone does not justify his lack of faith in the veracity of dreamed experience: it is perfectly possible that God could communicate truths to us while we dreamt. Descartes profound distrust of dreams, then, lies in the idea that dreaming obscures our reason, which is our only means of being in contact with God (and so with truth); Freud, on the other hand, places much more faith in dreams as a way of acquiring knowledge. This conclusion, however, overlooks the fact that Descartes and Freud set out with radically different ambitions. Descartes is involved in a philosophical enquiry into the nature of human knowledge, and whether it is even possible at all; Freud, meanwhile, is carrying out a psychological investigation in to the human mind. Hence, their two enquiries approach the concept of dreams and dreaming from completely different starting points. Descartes uses the idea of dreaming to demonstrate that we sometimes believe things which are not true - he refers to "the illusions of our dreams" - in order to show that it is possible that we be always mistaken in our opinions and so-called knowledge about the external world. He is in no wise concerned with the nature of the human mind or personality; dreaming is invoked purely as an example of something which can on occasion be deceptive. On the other hand, Freud's writing constitutes a scientific enquiry into the nature of our psychology. Thus, for him, dreams have an important empirical use: to give us greater insight into the way in which people's minds work. However, his approach is based on a fundamental assumption that underpins all science: that we can know about the external world, and that our senses are a reasonable means of finding out about it. This is the very assumption that Descartes is questioning. Therefore, in a sense it is unreasonable to compare Descartes' ideas about dreams with those of Freud, because their enquiries operate at different levels. Having said this, I believe that the two writers do share some common ground: both believe that dreams, by operating at a different level of consciousness than waking experience, can illuminate our understanding of the way our minds work. Freud sees dreams as revealing secrets about our desires - he refers to the Oedipus complex as "that ancient childhood wish", showing that he believes that dreams involving it are in fact revealing something about our repressed feelings. Equally, Descartes sees the idea that dreams operate on a different level of consciousness than waking thought as demonstrating that we can sometimes be deceived in our beliefs. So, for both Descartes and Freud, reflection on the nature of dreams can tell us important truths about ourselves, even though for Freud this gives us knowledge, whilst for Descartes it takes it away. In conclusion, I feel that it is clear that Descartes and Freud approach the subject of dreams and dreaming from entirely different angles. Thus, it appears that Descartes has much less faith in the substance of our dreams than Freud; however, I believe that this is demonstrative of the fact that their two enquiries are operating at different levels of thought. Finally, both see the notion of dreaming as a way of offering a different perspective on - and so illuminating - our understanding. References: Freud, S. 'The Oedipus Complex' in Jacobus, L.A. (ed.) A World of Ideas, Bedford, Freeman and Worth, 7th edn. Descartes, R. 'Discourse Four' in Jacobus, L.A. (ed.) A World of Ideas, Bedford, Freeman and Worth, 7th edn. Read More