[SydPhil] MQ Philosophy Talk: Tuesday, 31 July, 1-2pm, Blackshield Room: Melanie Rosen

[Karola Stotz]

*What the sense of agency in sleep tells us about dream phenomenology *

Melanie Rosen (Macquarie)

Date: 31 July
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Blackshield Room, W3A (6 First Walk) 501*
All welcome

*Abstract*: Surprisingly, there is much disagreement about the nature of
our phenomenal experience during dreams. Despite the fact that dreaming is
something we have all experienced, what it is like to dream is still
contested. Part of this is due to scepticism about our ability to
accurately report
dreams after waking and our inability to report them while they are
occurring. The common belief is that dreaming is perceptual: to dream is to
hallucinate. However, perhaps after waking we just *believe *we have
hallucinated... dreaming may instead simply vivid imagination. By looking at
indirect indicators extracted from dream reports, we can gain evidence about
what exactly it is like to dream. One such indicator is the sense of agency
(SoA). Looking at how we feel in or out of control in a dream can fill in
the gaps of our knowledge.
Dream SoA is particularly interesting as dreams display many
fascinating agentive
indicators such as achieving goals and feelings of control over bodily
movement as well as failed SoA, delusion-like experience and passivity.  Here
I argue that reports of SoA during dreams are consistent with a
pluralistic approach:
dream phenomenology involves imagination, illusion and hallucination.
Theorists' preference for a simple definition of dreaming may lead research
groups to focus on only a subset of dream experience. However by
analysing holistic,
narrator and comparator approaches to SoA in dreams, I will argue that
dream experience is not reducible to a simplistic definition.
Contact: Karola Stotz (karola.stotz at mq.edu.au)

-- 
Karola Stotz
Senior Lecturer, TWCF Fellow
Philosophy Department
Macquarie University
karola.stotz at mq.edu.au
https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/9c1mCxnMRvtroM6KF8JGSL?domain=karolastotz.com

[image: Macquarie University] <http://mq.edu.au/>

Honorary Associate
Unit for History and Philosophy of Science
University of Sydney
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