On Prophesying by Dreams
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~2,530 words · 12 passages
Cite this work
- APAAristotle. (n.d.). On Prophesying by Dreams. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/aristotle/on-prophesying-by-dreams
- MLAAristotle. On Prophesying by Dreams. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/aristotle/on-prophesying-by-dreams.
- ChicagoAristotle. On Prophesying by Dreams. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/aristotle/on-prophesying-by-dreams.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Do dreams foretell the future? Aristotle answers no, and explains why it looks as if they do.
Context and history
Antiquity's most sceptical text on dream divination: if one dream in a thousand comes true, we remember that one and forget the other nine hundred and ninety-nine. The argument from coincidence, stated in the fourth century BC. Part of the Parva naturalia, the eight short works that continue the De anima by applying its theory to particular phenomena of the living body. They are transmitted as a group and read best together.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
[within the body] are, unless very great and violent, lost sight of in contrast with the waking movements, which are more impressive. In sleep the opposite takes place, for then even trifling movements seem considerable. This is plain in what often happens during sleep; for example, dreamers fancy that they are affected by thunder and lightning, when in fact there are only faint ringings in their ears; or that they are enjoying honey or other sweet savours, when only a tiny drop of phlegm is flowing down [the oesophagus]; or that they are walking through fire, and feeling intense heat, when there is only a slight warmth affecting certain parts of the body. When they are awakened, these things appear to them in this their true character. But since the beginnings of all events are small, so, it is clear, are those also of the diseases or other affections about to occur in our bodies. In conclusion, it is manifest that these beginnings must be more evident in sleeping than in waking moments. Nay, indeed, it is not improbable that some of the presentations which come before the mind in sleep may even be causes of the actions cognate to each of them. For as when we are about to act [in waking hours], or are engaged in any course of action, or have already performed certain actions, we often find ourselves concerned with these actions, or performing them, in a vivid dream; the cause whereof is that the dream-movement has had a way paved for it from the original movements set up in the daytime; exactly so, but conversely, it must happen that the movements set up first in sleep should also prove to be starting-points of actions to be performed in the daytime, since the recurrence by day of the thought of these actions also has had its way paved for it in the images before the mind at night. Thus then it is quite conceivable that some dreams may be tokens and causes [of future events].